


Not A Snot Nosed Little Kid

by orphan_account



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: But he figures them out, Daddy!Dixon, Daryl Has Issues, I'm just adding more tags cause I want people to find this, If you don't like it get the hell out, It's Daryl so you know he is, It's a little girl though so maybe that'll help, OFC - Freeform, Starts in Season Two, Violence Against Walkers, Walkers (Walking Dead), Well technically they eat, cause they suck, give it a chance, kind of, not really - Freeform, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 20:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1562699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catrina Williams was just a sweet innocent girl before the dead started eating people. She had a mother, a father, and a cousin she loved dearly like a brother. But then she lost them and was forced to survive on her own. What will happen when she runs into a redneck with a crossbow and a blonde woman out looking for another little girl? How will she react to this new group that seem to be genuinely good people who want to keep her safe? The biggest question of all though is what will she become while growing up in the apocalypse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Found

Catrina was alone and scared but she didn't let that distract her. She couldn't. When the dead were walking around you didn't focus on fear, you focused on survival. Catrina didn't want to die so she pushed her fear aside and trudged on through the woods. It was night time and the sound of the dead could easily be hidden by all the bug sounds. That's why Catrina hated the night. She always got attacked at night. She didn't know how long she'd been walking but at some point she heard voices. A man's and a woman's. Catrina hadn't seen living people in a long time so she crept toward the voices. She stayed quiet as she peeked out through a couple of bushes, not wanting to get caught. The man was muscular, had dark brown hair, and was carrying the coolest looking crossbow Catrina had ever seen. The woman was smaller than him but looked somewhat strong and had pretty blond hair. They were talking about the blond woman wanting to die while a living dead hung from a tree. She was telling the man she'd give an answer for an arrow. When the man sent an arrow straight into the dead thing's head Catrina gasped loudly. She didn't mean to and she pressed her hands over mouth, worried that they or that a dead person had heard her. She missed what the woman said but she knew it wasn't a good answer. The man said so. Said it was a waste of an arrow. Problem was, he was looking towards Catrina as he spoke.

Catrina knew moving would get her caught so she stayed still. As the man and woman passed her though she started to wonder if being caught wouldn't be so bad. Not all people were bad like some of the ones in her last group...right? Catrina was so caught up in her internal debate that she didn't notice the man and woman sneaking up behind her until the man's hand was clamped down over her mouth and he was hauling her to her feet.

***

"Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!" Daryl said as the little girl kicked and struggled in his hold. He could understand why she was struggling, he was a big scary guy who had just grabbed her and covered her mouth. He had to do it though; they couldn't have her screaming and attracting Walkers. "I said calm down! Do you want Walkers to find us?!" He whispered to her harshly. That seemed to calm the girl down considerably though she looked confused and was still pulling at his hand. "Listen, we're not going to hurt you. We just wanna talk." The girl looked up at him and for a second all Daryl could think of was Sophia and how she probably felt as scared as this girl looked. He shook off the thoughts though. "Now I'm going to let you go but you're not going to scream and you're not going to run away. Got it?" Daryl told the girl.

The girl nodded and did as she was told when Daryl released her. She looked back at Andrea who Daryl had passed his crossbow to before focusing completely on Daryl. She seemed to see him as the bigger threat. Smart girl. He couldn't help but frown slightly at her. He'd thought she was Sophia until he'd been sneaking up on her. He'd hoped that she was but no. Sophia didn't have long tangled black hair and she didn't have big green eyes either.

"What's your name?" Daryl asked. He was a lot gentler now and it surprised Andrea who was alternating between looking around and looking at Daryl. Who knew the guy could actually seem gentle? Maybe it had to do with the girl looking like a frightened rabbit.

The little girl looked like she wanted to look at the ground but she kept her eyes firmly locked on Daryl like she expected him to try and kill her. Maybe she did expect it. Not all people were nice anymore. "Catrina. With a C." She said quietly, barely loud enough for Andrea to hear.

"Pretty name." Daryl said. Catrina smiled at him which brightened her face considerably. She seemed to realize what she was doing though because she quickly frowned again. "How old are you Cat?" Daryl asked, shortening her name without a thought. He wasn't surprised at how nice he was being to her. He'd always gotten along well enough with kids. The only reason he barely talked to kids anymore was because he didn't want to get attached.

"No one ever called me that." Catrina said, scrunching her nose up childishly. "They called me Trina. I didn't like it." Daryl smirked slightly, thinking it was kind of funny that a kid could still get bothered by a nickname in this world. "I'll be thirteen when it starts getting cold." She told him, seeming to remember that he'd asked her a question.

"Wow. You're almost an adult." Daryl said jokingly, smiling. Catrina smirked but gave the man a slightly annoyed look. She'd heard plenty of adults say that same thing to little kids and she was not a little kid. She had to make the man know that too or else they were going to have some problems. Daryl knew immediately what had annoyed her and he smirked, it was amusing when kids acted grown up. "Do you have a group around here?" Daryl asked, deciding that it was a good time to ask a more important question.

The girl's whole demeanor seemed to change. Suddenly she seemed so much older and so much darker. "No. They're dead." The girl told them, glaring slightly. She sounded closer to sixteen than thirteen then, her whole being changed by what was probably the loss of everyone she cared about.

Daryl glanced back at Andrea, exchanging a look with her. The little girl looked weak and seemed nonthreatening but that was clearly not true by the way she looked now and by what she had said. It didn't matter how long her group had been dead, any little girl that could survive in the woods with Walkers for even a day had to be tough. Daryl hoped Sophia was tough. "Alright, sorry. You seen a girl about your age wandering around out here?" Daryl asked, using a less gentle tone for this girl who clearly wasn't just a scared little kid.

"No." Catrina replied harshly, folding her arms over her chest. Daryl glared down at her but couldn't help but be slightly amused by the attitude. She reminded him a bit of Merle, hot headed and quick to be mean when feeling a bit threatened. "Why? Did you lose someone?" Catrina asked, sounding a bit more concerned.

"A girl named Sophia. She's blond and was carrying a doll. You sure you ain't seen her?" Daryl asked. Catrina shook her head, telling him she hadn't. Daryl let out a huff before turning to Andrea. He took his crossbow from her and slung it over his back before looking back at Catrina. "You coming?" He asked her. The little girl looked shocked and she stared up at him, mouth agape, like he had just said he was a dancing Russian bear. "We've got a group and at least some food. When was the last time you ate? You look like you're nothing but skin and bones." Daryl told the girl.

"Do I have a choice?" Catrina asked. She looked extremely hesitant and almost ready to run.

Daryl shrugged and motioned for Andrea to start walking. "Sure you do. Personally, I don't want a snot nosed little kid following me through the woods but that's not up to me." He said as he followed after Andrea. He walked slowly though, making sure the little girl who was taking tiny steps after them could still see him. "Besides, you look smart. I'm sure you can figure out which option's better." Daryl added, finally looking away from her.

***

Go with the slightly scary but seemingly trustworthy man and the blond lady or stay and possibly get eaten or starve? Catrina decided to follow the man and the lady. She ran (had to with her little legs) and caught up with them. Without thought, she slipped her hand into the man's. That's what her cousin had always told her to do if she was afraid of getting lost. Just grab the hand of the person you trust and they'll get you somewhere safe. Catrina wasn't sure if she exactly trusted the man (she had a hard time trusting anyone) but she knew he was trustworthy enough for her to follow.

Daryl tensed in alarm when the girl took his hand but didn't force her to let go. When he'd gotten lost in the woods as a kid if some trustworthy person came and offered to take him to safety he would have grabbed their hand too. Daryl looked down at the little girl, taking in how small and light she was. Slow too compared to them. They didn't need to be searching in the dark much longer, there was a strong chance they'd end up dead, so he stopped a moment and lifted her up onto his hip. She made a protesting sound but seemed more surprised than bothered. Daryl had a feeling she'd protest more if she didn't instantly start to fall asleep in his hold. How long had this girl been on her own? Had absolutely no one been watching out for her so she could sleep?

"I'm not a snot nosed little kid." Catrina mumbled sleepily when she remembered the insult.

"Sure you're not." Daryl said, smirking. Catrina hit him very lightly against the back with a half closed fist, too tired to form a verbal reply. Daryl chuckled and repositioned her slightly so he wouldn't drop her. Andrea gave him an odd look a few minutes later and he realized he'd been quietly humming one of Merle's favorite rock songs to put the girl to sleep. "What? I'm putting her to sleep so I don't have to hear her talk." Daryl told the woman. He was lying of course and he was glad the girl wasn't awake to hear him. Easy to destroy self esteem and all that.

Dale was still awake when they showed up and he climbed down from the top of the RV to meet them. "Is that—?" Daryl shook his head, knowing what the man was going to ask. "Well who is she?" Dale asked.

Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. "Some kid we found in the woods. Think she's been on her own for a while." He answered. He looked around for some place to set her down and debated taking her inside the RV. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea though. Carol might think Catrina was Sophia and get her hopes up. There was no other place for him to put her though except in the chair Dale had left abandoned and he didn't think leaving her alone in a chair was a good idea. It was a bit too cold for her to be in nothing but a tee and some jeans while sleeping outside. "Hey Andrea, you got an extra blanket?" Daryl asked, nodding to the girl he was holding so she'd know why he wanted one.

"Why don't you just hold her Dixon?" Andrea questioned as she headed towards the RV. "I mean, you're doing so well with her already that I might even mistake you for a daddy." She teased, shooting him a joking smile.

Daryl scoffed but sat down in the chair, putting his crossbow down beside him and shifting the girl to his lap. He heard Andrea chuckle before heading into the RV. "She's right." Dale, who Daryl hadn't realized was still paying attention, said. "You look like a natural dad." He told the other man. Daryl simply scoffed again.

Andrea came out of the RV a few seconds later with a blanket. She draped it over the little girl and Daryl, smirking the whole time. Daryl ignored her, adjusting the blanket so that it covered the little girl whole and provided him with some warmth as well. She really was much too thin and fragile for her age. He wondered if she would have gotten any sleep tonight if they hadn't found her. "Carol's asleep. Who's going to tell her we found a girl but not Sophia?" Andrea asked, putting her hands on her hips. She looked stressed.

"I'll tell her in the morning." Daryl answered, his eyes focused on the woods in front of him. He glanced down at Catrina who was snuggled against his chest, selfishly stealing body heat from him. She'd probably been alone for a decent amount of time and she'd survived well enough. Couldn't Sophia have done the same thing?


	2. Welcome to the Group

It was weird, waking up and feeling warm. The nights had been progressively getting colder despite the days staying relatively warm and every time she got some sleep, which wasn't often, she woke up feeling cold. Not this time though. Catrina wondered why that was until she remembered what had happened the night before. She'd found people, actual people, and had let them take her to their camp. Or at least that's what she assumed. She'd fallen asleep on crossbow man's shoulder. Remembering that, she jerked up out of sleep and looked around in startled fear. She realized she was up on the highway and her fear grew dramatically. The highway was dangerous! Mama and dad and Cousin Matt had said so! She started to panic.

***

Daryl had slept for maybe an hour or two before getting up. He'd already done all he could do, told Carol about Catrina and looted the surrounding cars for anything useful, so he decided to check on Catrina. He'd left her under Andrea and Dale's watch when he went to rummage through the cars. He expected them to be able to handle her when she woke up. Apparently he set his expectations a little too high cause when he came back Catrina was slowly backing towards the woods, her eyes filled with terror, with a pocketknife he never noticed she had pointed right at Andrea.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, confused, as he approached.

"Your girl's gone psycho." Andrea told him, her eyes fixated on the girl.

Catrina didn't exactly know what psycho meant but she knew it wasn't something she wanted to be called. "Have not." She protested, her grip on her knife becoming more angry than desperate. She turned her eyes on Daryl who was looking at her calmly. "The highway isn't safe. Everyone told me so. I can't be on the highway alone." She told him.

Daryl almost smirked. She was smart even if she didn't think things completely through. "Well first of all, you're not on your own." He told her. Catrina glanced at the two other adults, silently agreeing that that was true. "Second, yeah the highway isn't safe but we kept you safe on it for a full night so why would you want to run?" Daryl questioned.

"I came with you cause it was dark and I hadn't slept in days. Now I'm better so I can leave." Catrina said, glaring.

"Go ahead then if you think you can survive on your own." Daryl said, pointing to the woods.

Catrina glared at him. She could survive on her own just not that well. If she really wanted to leave she could and she'd live but barely. Leaving though wouldn't be a good idea. The grownups all looked relatively healthy and they ate more than kids did so that meant they usually had food. Plus they actually had survived a full night on the highway and had even kept her safe while doing it. At least for now, staying would be a good idea. But if any of them became threatening she would stab them. Catrina put her knife back in her pocket. "For the record," she said as she walked back to the chair she'd been in, "I can survive on my own." She made a face at the crossbow wielder which he simply grunted at. Despite being the main person whom talked to her, Catrina could tell he wasn't the chatty type.

"You're a brat." Daryl told the girl when she was seated and looking at him. There was no heat behind his words, just amusement. The girl was acting so tough for her age and it made him wonder if he'd been anything like that when he was her age. Probably, Merle had always told him to be tough and he'd acted accordingly.

"Well you're a jerk." Catrina replied immediately. She grinned up at the man, thinking she'd insulted him more than he had her even without saying anything real bad. She knew cuss words and what they meant but she didn't want to call him any of the ones she knew. He was too nice to be called something really truly mean.

"That's not surprising." Dale said as he climbed down off the RV. "Daryl usually is." Catrina shot the crossbow man a smile, glad she knew his name now. She didn't know why that made her feel triumphant but it did. Maybe because he knew her name when she didn't know his. "I'm Dale. Daryl says your name's Catrina." Dale said, smiling at the little girl.

Catrina nodded, her eyes focused on Dale's head. "Your hat is weird. I like it." She told the man.

Dale grinned as Andrea laughed. Daryl smirked as he headed inside the RV to tell Carol the girl was awake. "Yeah? It's a fisherman's hat. I can find you one sometime if you like." He told her. Catrina smiled slightly but didn't reply, her eyes drifting down the road. She glanced the other way then scanned the tree line. She couldn't help it. The highway wasn't safe even if the grownups could protect her on it. There was always a chance they'd mess up and Catrina didn't like the idea of being caught unawares. "You don't have to do that." Dale told her. "Nothing's going to grab you while we're around." He tried to assure her.

"My mama said the same thing." Catrina replied, knowing that would be enough to silence the man. Her mama had said a lot of things and most of what she had said had been the truth but not that. Catrina had gotten grabbed but not by the dead. She'd been lucky not to get hurt…unlike her mama and everyone else.

Catrina's comment did in fact silence Dale. The man was concerned about the girl Daryl had picked up. She was different than Carl and Sophia, a child who had been forced to grow up just a bit too quick but who still wanted to be a kid. Dale wondered what had happened to make her grow up so fast. Surely her parents had protected her, tried to keep her a child in their absolutely destroyed world. Maybe losing her parents had changed her. It certainly would change anybody else.

Daryl came out of the RV a few minutes later, Carol following slowly after him. Catrina almost smiled when she saw Daryl. She liked him the best, he was kind when he first talked to her and didn't treat her like she was a dumb kid. Catrina did smile a little but quickly put on a blank face when she saw a woman with short hair following after him. "Cat, this is Carol. Sophia's mom." Daryl said, gesturing to Carol slightly. Catrina sized up the woman, deciding she wasn't much of a threat. The woman looked sad which Catrina understood why. She wondered if her mama would look like that if she were still alive and looking for Catrina. There was no chance of her mama being alive though. She knew for a fact that she was forever dead. "Didn't anyone teach you manners, girl?" Daryl asked when Catrina didn't say anything.

"Mama did." Catrina answered, snapping out of her thoughts. She looked back at Carol and put on a polite smile. "Nice to meet you ma'am. Sorry, I was thinking." She said as politely as she could. Her mama had always told her she wasn't that great with manners but she had never been too mad about it, not unless Catrina said something she wasn't supposed to at a bad time.

Carol tried to smile sincerely at the girl but didn't quite pull it off. When Daryl had told her he'd found a girl but not her daughter she'd felt angry. Why did this stranger girl get to be saved instead of her daughter? Why did she get to be brought back to them and taken care of while Sophia had to sleep in the woods? Carol felt sickened by the thoughts that she'd had and felt even worse when she saw how small and malnourished the poor girl was. It wasn't the girl's fault she wasn't Sophia. Still, Carol wished she was. "You look hungry." Carol said when she realized she'd let an awkward silence grow. Catrina looked down at her stomach which had been growling for days. She'd been ignoring it pretty well, knowing if she focused on the hunger it would just make everything worse. "We have canned fruit and some jerky. Not the best combination but it'll fill you up some." Carol told the girl.

"I'd like that. Thank you ma'am." Catrina said. Her words sounded rehearsed, insincere, and she silently cussed herself out, thinking that she had to have had sounded rude. Carol gave her a small smile though and headed back into the RV without chastising her. Catrina looked towards Daryl, instinctively trusting him to pass judgment on her manners. Daryl gave her a nod, silently telling her she'd done at least a decent job. Catrina smiled for the briefest of seconds before pulling on a once more blank face.

Carol brought out a fork, the canned fruit, a water bottle, and a small bag of jerky. She handed it all over to Catrina who thanked her with every ounce of sincerity she could muster up. Carol smiled slightly at that and watched the girl open the easy open can of fruit. Worry appeared on her face though when she saw how hungry the girl looked and when the girl started rapidly shoveling the fruit into her mouth she couldn't take it. "Honey, slow down a bit. If you eat too fast you'll get sick." Carol warned the girl.

Catrina swallowed the forkful of fruit she'd just shoveled into her mouth before speaking. "Sorry ma'am." She mumbled apologetically, not meeting the woman's eyes. It wasn't because she was frightened or anything, it was because she didn't want the woman to see the look in her eyes. The look that said she was mentally beating herself up for appearing weak and needy by desperately cramming food into her mouth. Catrina went back to eating without another word, careful to keep her pace normal. She was careful when she ate the jerky and gulped down the water too, not wanting to appear weak again. When she was done she smiled up at Carol and held out the fork. "Thank you again. I feel a lot better." She said as the woman took the fork. It was the truth too. She hadn't even digested the food yet but the feeling of an even somewhat full stomach was like Heaven. She was still smiling when she gently placed the trash on the ground but her smile faded when she looked back up at the four adults who were all staring at her. Once again Catrina looked around for the dead, worried that one would show up when all the adults weren't looking and hurt her. "So what now?" Catrina asked the adults, glancing at them as she eyed the tree line.

"The rest of our group is off on a farm. We're meeting up with them. So get in the RV." Daryl told her before heading off towards his motorcycle.

Catrina turned wide amazed eyes on Dale. "There's more of you? How the hell are you all not dead?" She asked him. Dale looked at her in shock and her brow furrowed in confusion. Then she realized what she'd said and she frowned. "Are you the type of grownups that get onto kids for cussing? Mama wouldn't let me say the real bad ones but the little ones were fine. Dad thought it was funny but Matt didn't like it. Said girls shouldn't say cuss words." She rambled slightly. She usually did when she was complaining.

"Well he wasn't exactly right but you're a child. Children shouldn't talk like that." Dale told her gently. Catrina's eyes narrowed at him. He was the type of grownup that chastised children in a gentle way, the way that made kids feel like they were being unreasonable raging monsters.

"Mama said I could." Catrina insisted, a bit of a temper showing through. She always had had a temper. Cousin Matt had used to call her a little monster when he was referring to how quick she could get angry and how violent she could be once she was angry. "You're not Mama so you don't get a say in what I say." Catrina told the man.

"Hey." Daryl said, pulling Catrina's attention to him. He was giving her a sharp look that made Catrina cringe. Matt had given her that look whenever she was doing something he disapproved of. "You're ours now. We're taking care of you. So you listen to Dale and anyone else when they tell you not to do something. Got that?" Daryl told her. Catrina glowered at him just like she had glowered at Matt whenever he told her off or ordered her to do something. "Catrina." Daryl said forcefully, prompting her to answer.

"Yes dad." Catrina said sarcastically. That was always the response she'd give Matt. It never failed to make him mad just like it didn't fail to make Daryl mad.

"Don't go getting an attitude with me, girl." Daryl told her angrily, jabbing a finger at her. Catrina continued to glare at him. Neither one noticed the looks Dale, Andrea, and Carol were exchanging. "I won't be as kind as Dale or Carol when I tell you off." Daryl warned her.

Catrina weighed her options. She could either keep arguing with him and risk invoking the wrath of a man who clearly unsettled the other adults or she could agree and just have to deal with his anger later when she inevitably made him mad again. She chose to deal with it later, hopefully when she had eaten again. "Yes sir." She finally told him though she sounded as grudging as humanly possible. Daryl nodded curtly to her, accepting that that was the best he was going to get from her. Catrina got up from her chair and smoothed the wrinkles that had formed on her pants. She noticed then how dirty her clothes were but she didn't dwell on her appearance. She was twelve and the world was in the toilet, worrying about her appearance was stupid. "Am I coming with you to the farm? Or did you just want to feed me then send me off?" Catrina asked seriously, her eyes boring once more into Daryl.

"You wanna stay here on your own?" Daryl asked her before any of the other adults could say they wouldn't do that to her.

"No." Catrina answered immediately. No she did not. Because of these people she'd actually gotten some sleep and ate real food. Why would she want to leave people who had provided her with so much?

"Then yes we're taking you with us. Now get in the RV, we're going now." Daryl told her. Catrina nodded and immediately climbed up into the RV, leaving the adults outside to pack up whatever they had lying out.

As they packed up, Dale worked it so that he was by Carol but far enough away from Andrea and Daryl so they couldn't eavesdrop. "I'm sorry she wasn't Sophia." Dale apologized to the woman. Carol simply nodded, keeping her expression blank so she wouldn't give away her thoughts. She didn't want him to know how much she had wanted the girl to be Sophia, how much she was still wishing that the girl would disappear and Sophia would be left standing in her place. "We will find her, Carol. If Cat can survive this long on her own Sophia can too." Dale said with conviction.

It didn't take them long to be ready to go. Carol got in the RV with Dale while Andrea got into her car. Daryl was already ready, sitting on his motorcycle waiting for the others to hurry up. Catrina sat at the little table in the RV, staring out the window. She didn't say a word as they started driving and she didn't look at either Dale or Carol as the RV travelled down the road. She'd heard them outside, one of the windows was cracked open, and she was trying to decide what to say. She felt like she ought to apologize though being the wrong person wasn't her fault. She wasn't very good at apologies though, not extended ones. She felt she ought to comfort the woman a little too. That's what her mama would have done if she were here. By the time Catrina actually had a small idea of what she was going to say they were out in the country.

Catrina cleared her throat in that way grownups did to get other people's attention. Dale glanced back at her, unable to take his eyes off the road for too long, but Carol stared right at her. Catrina didn't mind if Dale wasn't paying full attention, he wasn't the one she wanted to talk to anyways. "I'm sorry I'm the wrong girl." She said. Carol's expression instantly became a mix of shock and shame. Catrina wondered if she had said the wrong thing. "You don't have to feel bad about it." She said quickly, trying to fix her mistake. "I understand. I wish I had been Sophia too, that way you'd have your daughter back. But I'm not and I just wanna say I'm sorry and that I hope you find her." Catrina told the woman. Carol didn't reply, just stared at her, which gave Catrina a moment to think over whether to say anything else. "I'll help find her if you want. Girls my age shouldn't be without their mothers for too long." She added hesitatingly.

For a few minutes no one said anything and Catrina started to worry again that she'd said the wrong thing. She was certain she had when she saw the tears in Carol's eyes. Her cheeks heated up with shame and she looked at her hands. She tried to think of a good apology but never figured one out. Carol's hand gently lifting her chin cut off all thought of apology. When Catrina was looking up at her, Carol cupped her face in her hands. "Thank you but you don't need to apologize sweetie. Never apologize for being saved." Carol told her, gently but firmly. Carol pressed a small soft kiss to Catrina's forehead and Catrina's eyes widened. The only person who ever did that was her mama. "Thank you." Carol told her once more before going back and sitting on the other side of the RV.

Catrina stared at Carol the rest of the ride to the farm. The only time she took her eyes off of her was when Dale said she should come out with him. She didn't though. She came out with Carol, cautiously hiding behind her back. She wasn't scared of any of the people there but she knew better than to just trust them right off. She still didn't trust the four people of the group she'd already met. Well…except Daryl. She was pretty sure she trusted him. He seemed predictable enough and he had treated her like she wasn't a little kid, something no one else had done ever. Even after the dead stated coming back. Everyone (well, mostly everyone) treated her like she was defenseless, like she was weak, like she didn't know or understand anything.

The adults were talking about a boy named Carl. Catrina listened in and noted that the bald man's name was Shane. She also noted that not all the people were a part of the highway group. Some were apparently residents of the farm. Catrina was so busy examining the other people that she didn't notice Carol stepping away from her to hug the woman who Catrina figured was Carl's mom. She didn't want to be on her own even surrounded by people so she walked quietly over to Daryl. He glanced down at her but when he saw that she was staring at everyone with a cold calculating look in her eyes he didn't say anything. The girl was distrustful and smart; she was placing herself by someone she at least mildly trusted so she could size up the others. Daryl had to admit it was a good idea, sizing up everyone you met. He'd done it even before the world went to shit and he was doing it again now, sizing up Herschel's people and even Shane who looked off. Really off. And not just because his head was now shaved.

Rick had just finished explaining to Dale what had happened when he spotted the little girl by Daryl. He knew she wasn't Sophia instantly, the differences were too great. She was thinner, shorter, with much darker hair and different colored eyes. The girl barely had any baby fat left on her face and she looked a lot older than she probably was, especially with that look in her eye like she was mentally deciding how hard it would be to take each of them out. "Who's this?" Rick asked, gesturing to the girl.

"Found her in the woods last night. She was spying on me and Andrea." Daryl said though he didn't actually answer the question.

"I wasn't spying." Catrina protested immediately. Daryl gave her a skeptical look that she really wanted to stick her tongue out at him for. It would have appeared very childish though and she didn't want the adults to treat her like a child so she didn't do it. "I wasn't." She insisted. Daryl made a sound that said he definitely didn't believe her. "I heard noises that didn't sound like dead people so I followed them. I haven't seen living people in a while so I thought I'd get my fill." Catrina explained, looking back towards the man who she only knew as the dad of a boy named Carl.

"Her last group, including her family, died. We don't know the details." Dale told Rick in a whisper. Catrina didn't seem to like him whispering though cause she narrowed her eyes at him in distrust. He gave her a reassuring smile and her distrust lessened slightly but not completely.

Rick nodded just slightly and knelt down in front of Catrina. She was giving him a distrusting look and she had taken a barely noticeable step back, cautious of him being so close to her. "My name's Rick and that's my wife Lori. Our son Carl is in the house." Rick said, introducing himself and his family in an attempt to show the girl she could trust them. "What's your name?" He asked gently.

"Catrina Williams. It's spelled with a C, not a K." Catrina told the man. She noted the badge on his shirt and gave him a curious look. "You were a cop?" She asked with interest. Rick nodded and gave her a small smile. Catrina eyed him and smirked slightly. "You're in charge, aren't you? Cops always end up in charge." Rick smiled and nodded again. Catrina eyed him carefully again. "So you're the one who decides whether I stay or not? Not Daryl?" She questioned.

"Didn't I already tell you?" Daryl asked. He sounded harsh and he could tell a few of them didn't appreciate just how harsh he was being. Lori and Andrea for instance. They were glowering at him, probably thinking that Catrina was a little girl and Daryl should be nicer to her. Daryl didn't think so. The girl was a kid but she was a kid in the fucking apocalypse. She needed to be treated a little harsher, more like an adult. Soft people didn't survive in this world and Daryl was going to be damned before he let this girl die. "We're not getting rid of you. Now stop asking." He told the girl.

Catrina looked up at him and he looked down at her, a deadly serious expression on his face. Catrina didn't even look to Rick again, just nodded. Daryl wasn't going to let them kick her out. She was safe for now. She looked back at Rick and he could have sworn he saw smug triumph in her eyes, like she had really expected him to get rid of her and was extremely glad that he no longer had a say in it. Rick decided not to press why she thought they would get rid of her and decided to focus on the fact that the girl looked half dead. "When was the last time you ate?" He asked her.

"Carol gave me food this morning but that was the first time I'd eaten in I think almost a week but I've been drinking water from creeks. And last night was the first bit of sleep I'd gotten in I think two days." Catrina answered immediately. She didn't think she'd appear weak by telling the truth. In fact, she thought that made her seem tough. She'd survived a whole week with barely any sleep, no food, and just a pocketknife in a world full of evil dead things. That made her tough.

Everyone, even the farm people, looked at her in shock. Catrina felt uncomfortable under all of their gazes and rubbed at her half full stomach. The amount of food she needed to eat had gone down since the dead started coming back to life, supplies were limited after all so she only ate a bit at a time, and it had shrunk even more after so many days of going without food. If she got another meal the size of the last one she had then her stomach would probably be full.

"You need to eat. And sleep." Rick told her after a few moments of silence.

Catrina couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Really? I never would have thought to do that. I was just going to let myself starve and pass out randomly from lack of sleep." She said as sarcastically as possible. Daryl snorted quietly, only loud enough for Rick and Catrina to hear. A smile appeared on Catrina's face for a second before she suddenly realized what her face was doing. She quickly adopted a much more serious expression and stared Rick in the eye. "I can pull my own weight if I need to. Teach me how and I'll hunt or I can fish if there's a good spot around here, dad taught me how to fish. I'll help with chores and whatever else. I won't be a burden." She told him. She felt like she had to tell him this. Her last group had made everyone work for their food and their keep and she didn't know if this group functioned the same way. If they did though she didn't want to give them a reason to be rid of her.

"You don't have to do that. We don't expect kids to work that much." Rick told her, shocked that she would even suggest working like an adult.

Catrina was surprised. He wasn't serious? She was relieved for a moment before she remembered her older group's leader talking about how if they didn't work they were useless and useless people died in this world. "I want to. I'm not useless and I don't want to be treated like I am." She said firmly, crossing her thin arms over her chest. Despite her size and her obviously poor health she still managed to look older as she said it. Rick stared at her for a few minutes then nodded as he straightened up. Everyone could tell though that he was simply nodding to end the conversation. He was probably never going to let her do as much as she wanted to.

For a long while no one spoke and that bothered Catrina. Silence had always bugged her when there were a bunch of people around. Silence when you were alone was fine but silence in a group of people always meant something bad. She was extremely glad when Herschel spoke up. "We have a funeral to be getting on with. Beth, why don't you take the girl into the house and get her something to eat? Everyone else, we'd appreciate help gathering up the stones." Herschel told everyone. There were nods all around and then a girl with blond hair came over to Catrina.

"Come on, I'll find you something to eat and then maybe you can sleep for a bit." The girl, Beth, told her as she offered her hand.

Catrina looked cautiously at the girl then looked up at Daryl. She didn't think the girl could do any harm to her, Catrina was too fast and too small to be easily caught, but she felt like she had to ask Daryl's permission to go with her. He'd basically saved her life and she'd learned that meant she owed him and that he basically got to run her life. Or at least that's what the old leader of her last group had said. Daryl noticed her looking at him for permission and he gave a small nod, telling her to go on. Catrina immediately grabbed Beth's hand and allowed herself to be taken inside.


	3. Food and Deals

Beth fed her chicken and mashed potatoes and milk. Catrina didn't think she'd ever had a better meal in her whole life. It was actual food! And not just any food but farm food! The mashed potatoes were homemade, the chicken had been from their chicken coop, and the milk came from one of their cows. It was amazing. Catrina ate slowly, savoring each bite, and was sad when she'd finished everything. Still, her stomach was completely and utterly full. A first in a long time.

Herschel came in a little while later and talked to Beth who was washing up Catrina's plate. When he left she came over to Catrina who was still sitting at the table. "I'm going to go attend the funeral. How about you shower and get some sleep? I can find you some fresh clothes that'll fit too." Beth said, smiling a little the whole time. Catrina nodded and followed her upstairs to a bathroom. Beth left her in there for a few minutes as she retrieved clothes (which she had to go outside for) and a brush. "Don't use too much hot water. When you're done you can sleep in my room if you like or, if you can't get to sleep, you can sit with Carl and watch him. I don't think his parents will mind." Beth told her.

"Thank you." Catrina said sincerely, placing the clothes and the brush on the toilet. Beth smiled at her then started to walk down the hallway. Catrina remembered something and she ran after Beth, catching her before she got to the stairs. "Do you have any female stuff?" She asked more bluntly than she probably should have. Beth looked at her in surprise and Catrina blushed. "Mama called me an early bloomer. It happened just a bit after my last birthday." She said awkwardly, her eyes on the floor now.

"Oh. Well we don't have proper products right now, we have to go into town and get some more soon, but we have emergency rags we use just for that." Beth said as she gently pulled Catrina back to the bathroom. "They're under the sink in a plastic bag, you'll know 'em when you find 'em. I've got to go now." She said, pointing to the sink. She gave the girl one more smile before leaving.

Catrina took her time in the shower but kept the water at lukewarm the whole time. Just the bit of warm water felt amazing though and she smiled as she scrubbed off as much dirt as possible. There was shampoo too and conditioner. Catrina washed her hair meticulously with the products, remembering her mama saying how her hair was so pretty and how Catrina should always take care of it. By the time she stepped out of the shower she felt great. Clean and relaxed. The relaxed part wouldn't last long, the second she stepped out of the bathroom she'd be on alert again, but she was going to enjoy it for as long as possible.

The clothes Beth brought her fit to a degree. The shirt hung off of her but that was mostly due to her being so skinny. The undies and the pants fit her too but the pants were too long. Catrina figured Beth had gotten them from Carol because there was certainly no one living on the farm that wore clothes this small. She made a mental note to thank Carol later and to thank Herschel.

It took a long time to get the tangles out of her hair. It was all so messed up and she ended up ripping out more than she would have liked. Finally though it was hanging against her back, the ends reaching her itty bitty waist. Catrina ran her hands through it a couple of times, marveling at the fact that it was starting to get wavy. She'd never had wavy hair before. Maybe it had something to do with growing. Catrina smiled and opened up the cabinet beneath the sink. After dealing with girl problems, putting her pocketknife inside her new pair of pants, and pulling her shoes and socks back on Catrina finally left the bathroom. She took her old clothes with her, thinking that maybe she could clean them and wear them again eventually. She couldn't exactly go around in pants too long for her forever. Running would be an issue in the long pants, she'd fall flat on her face if she tried.

Catrina wasn't tired, she would be later but not now, so she went to where Beth said Carl was. She cautiously opened the door, peeking in when the door was barely open to see if the boy was awake. He wasn't so she walked in as quietly as she could and shut the door behind her. Once she was sure they were the only people in the room and once she'd placed her clothes down near the door, she walked over to Carl and stared down at him in interest. He was the only other kid she'd seen in a long time. He was cute even though he looked sick, kind of like if he had the flu. Catrina peeked at the bandages wrapped around his torso before walking over to the nearest window and staring out it. She could just barely see the adults far off in a half circle looking at a pile of stones. Catrina frowned. The one funeral she had been to had involved a hole in the ground and people wearing black. Oh well, maybe it was different now that the world was all crappy.

Carl stirred behind her. Catrina spun around in surprise but relaxed when she saw it was just Carl moving about. He seemed to be waking up so she walked over to his bed so he wouldn't wake up and see no one. Slowly his eyes opened and the first thing he saw was Catrina. "You're not Sophia." He said quietly, pausing between each word like it was hard for him to talk. It probably was. Getting shot probably messed you up pretty bad.

"Sorry." Catrina said immediately though she didn't sound very apologetic. Carol had told her to not to apologize for being saved but she was still going to just not very sincerely. "My name's Catrina. They found me in the woods." Catrina told the boy.

Carl weakly placed his hand against his chest then let it fall back down his side. "Carl." He said weakly.

Catrina smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know. I met your dad." She told him. Carl smiled slightly in reply then looked around, probably for his parents. "They're outside holding a funeral for someone. I think it was one of the people who live here cause your group doesn't seem too broken up about it." Carl nodded slightly and at least seemed somewhat grateful for the information. Catrina would be thankful if their situation was reversed. "Your dad seems cool. The badge is badass." Catrina added without much thought.

Carl looked at her in surprise. "You can't cuss." He told her.

"Well the adults aren't around so I figured I can." Catrina said offhandedly, shrugging one shoulder. She really didn't understand why they wouldn't let her say the little cuss words. Hell was a place that you didn't want to go to and ass was just another word for butt so why couldn't she say them? Catrina decided she'd ask Daryl about it later. "You look like shit." She added.

"Shut up. Stop cussing." Carl told her, glaring slightly.

Catrina smiled at him. She'd forgotten how easy boys got angry at girls and it was funny being reminded of it. She could remember a couple of times where she'd been sent to the principal's office for punching a boy for being mean to her. Those had been good days. "You should go back to sleep. Your mom should be back soon and I'm sure she'd love to see you sleeping peacefully." She finally told the boy.

Carl made a sound that made Catrina giggle slightly, it sounded like he didn't want to go back to sleep. He closed his eyes reluctantly after staring at her for a minute and immediately dropped off into dreamland, too weak to stay awake much longer. Catrina smiled at him for a moment then realized she was smiling and stopped. She wasn't supposed to be letting herself get attached to these people and smiling was definitely a sign of getting attached. All her other groups had died and eventually her family had too. If she got attached it would just hurt that much more when they either betrayed her or died.

Lori came up to Carl's room after the funeral. She was very nice to Catrina but Catrina felt uncomfortable around her. She felt like the woman was looking at her like a weak child, not someone who could take care of herself. She quickly told the woman that Carl had woken up for a moment before rushing out of the room and out of the house. She found a vast majority of everyone standing around the hood of a car with a map laid out in front of them. She crept up beside Daryl but didn't say a word, just listened in. She learned that Daryl was going to go searching for Sophia, that there would be gun training, and that Herschel didn't like guns.

"I hate to be the one to ask but somebody's got to." Shane said. Everyone turned their eyes on him. "What happens if we find her and she's bit? I think we should be clear on how we handle that." He told the group.

Catrina instantly felt sick. Shocked and sick. She wanted to punch Shane for even suggesting that Sophia might be dead. Of course she didn't, Shane was much too big for her to punch and she was still too weak. So instead Catrina decided to speak up. "How could you say that?" She asked, her voice filled with shock and anger and disgust. Daryl shushed her but she shook her head. "She's alive." She insisted, staring up at Shane. He was looking down at her with little to no emotion on his face. Catrina thought that maybe he looked annoyed with her but she wasn't sure. "I survived on my own longer than she's been gone and I didn't kill a single dead thing I ran into. I got away from all of them. I lived! How can you suggest that Sophia is dead when you have proof that a girl her age can survive in this world on her own for a few days?" Catrina's voice got stronger and stronger as she spoke, eventually making her sound as angry as any adult could get.

"Catrina, Shane was just speculating. He doesn't actually think we'll find Sophia dead." Rick told her in a calm voice.

"If he didn't believe it he wouldn't have said it." Catrina pointed out, crossing her thin arms over her chest in anger.

"Hey." Daryl snapped slightly. Catrina looked up at him, not glaring in the slightest, and, not for the first time, Daryl wondered why he was the one she had decided to trust. He was harsh and he knew for a fact he was one of the scariest looking fuckers in the whole group. She should have chosen to trust Andrea, a woman who was far nicer than him even if she could be a whiny bitch from time to time. "What did I say about your attitude?" He asked her, glaring slightly down at her.

Catrina didn't answer right away, trying to remember. "You said not to have it with you." She told him, smiling triumphantly when she remembered. She didn't know what her attitude had to do with any of this though and she slowly started to frown. "Why? Did I offend you? I was trying to tell off Shane, not upset you." She said, worry creeping into her voice at the thought of Daryl being mad at her. She didn't want the only person she even remotely trusted in the world to be mad at her.

Daryl shook his head at her. God, kids worried too fucking much. An adult wouldn't have assumed he was angry with them just because he snapped a little. "I'm not mad." He told the girl. Her expression brightened considerably and she almost smiled at him. "Why don't you go bug Dale? Or, if you're so keen on being treated like you're useful, go help set up camp." He told her, gesturing to where Carol and the others were setting up tents.

Catrina frowned up at him, not appreciating being sent away, but decided not to throw a fit. She would never be treated the way she wanted if she whined. "Alright." She told him before taking off towards Carol. She shot Shane a disliking look before turning her full attention on Carol. "Thank you for the clothes." She said immediately. She was instantly reminded of her old clothes and she silently cursed, remembering that she'd left them in Carl's room.

Carol looked up at her and smiled. "You're welcome sweetie. Though it looks like the pants are a little too long. Glenn!" She said. A man Catrina had never seen before wearing a baseball cap came over to them. He smiled at Catrina but didn't say anything as he turned his attention on Carol. "Could you bring me a knife? Cat's pants need cutting." Carol told the man.

"Oh yeah, sure. I think Dale's got one or maybe even a pair of scissors in the RV." Glenn said before hurrying off to the RV. He came a few seconds later, a triumphant look on his face and a pair of scissors in his hand. "Here you go." He said cheerfully, handing the scissors over to Carol.

"Thank you." Carol said politely. Glenn nodded then walked off to continue setting up his own tent. "Now stay very still. I don't want to end up cutting you." Carol said, looking up at Catrina with a very serious expression. Catrina nodded and watched as Carol carefully cut the pants, while they were still on her, until they were short enough for her. "Such a petite little girl. I bet you hit a massive growth spurt." Carol said when she was done, once again smiling up at Catrina. The girl thought her smiles looked sad and hoped it just had to do with Sophia being missing. Having a sad looking smile as your normal smile would be awful.

"Thank you ma'am." Catrina said politely. Carol gave her arm a small pat before going back to setting up her tent, placing the scissors and cut off denim to the side for the time being. "Daryl said I should help set things up. Do you need any help?" Catrina asked hopefully. She wanted to show she could be useful and this was just the way to do it. Besides, she didn't want Daryl to get mad at her for not listening.

"I sure do." Carol told her. Catrina smiled brightly at her but inside she felt like squirming. The woman was using a motherly tone with her and it made her uncomfortable. First off, because her mama had used that same tone. Second, because it made Catrina feel like Carol was temporarily replacing Sophia with her. "Here, I'll teach you how to pitch a tent." Carol told her.

By the time the little meeting around the map was over Carol had successfully taught Catrina how to pitch a tent. The girl was grinning happily at her newfound knowledge and asked Carol if there was anything else she could do. The woman told her that unfortunately no there wasn't. Catrina frowned in disappointment until she saw Daryl walking by. He had given her something to do earlier, maybe he'd have an idea as to what to do now. Or maybe he'd just talk to her. She'd been having conversations with the air since the dead started popping up since no one just talked anymore. It was always orders or questions or scoldings or so awkward it couldn't be considered a proper talk. She missed just talking and yeah Carol had talked to her but she made Catrina a tad uncomfortable. Daryl didn't.

"Carol taught me how to pitch a tent." Catrina said when she was jogging beside Daryl. She had to jog, his longer legs made him so much faster than her. She wished she'd hurry up and grow because being so short was annoying. Daryl made a noise that said he'd heard her but he didn't reply. She frowned in annoyance but decided to keep talking. "So what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to go find Sophia." Daryl told her. He considered for a moment telling her to mind her own business like he would an adult but decided to tell her. She was a kid; he didn't have to push her away so much. Eventually the kid would get bored with him and leave him of her own accord.

"Can I come?" The question made Daryl stop immediately in shock. The girl stopped too and stared up at him, her eyes pleading. "I want to help. I know how it is out there on your own for so long. I don't want someone else going through what I did." Catrina told him. She was being completely and utterly sincere as she spoke. Being lost out there on your own...it was something she would never wish on anyone. She had a weird feeling about all this too. Like she knew finding Sophia would help her somehow.

Daryl managed to shake off his surprise after a moment or two of staring down at the pleading girl. "No." He said firmly before continuing to walk on.

Catrina stared after him in surprise for a moment. How could he say no? Didn't he realize that helping find Sophia was important to her? She ran after Daryl, barely catching up. "Why not?" She asked. She was breathing heavily and she felt weak but there was no way she was going to tell Daryl that. "The more people out looking the more of a chance we'll have of finding her." She pointed out, remembering a TV show she'd once seen that said something like that. "And I'm her size! I can get to the places she could reach but not you!" Those were good reasons to let her come along, right? He had to say yes.

"I said no." Daryl told her, shooting her a stern slightly angry look. The girl opened her mouth to protest and he let out an annoyed noise before stopping in his tracks. The girl skidded to a stop, surprised by the sudden lack of movement. "Alright, that's it." Daryl said, surprising himself by how angry he sounded. Catrina looked at him in surprise, her eyes wide. Her eyes looked big on her thin face; she really needed to eat more. "Are you crazy? I'm serious; did you go insane out there on your own?" He asked her. The girl shook her head quickly, obviously at least as bit frightened. "Then what? Do you just not think things through?" He was shouting slightly. He could feel the group's eyes on him, some glaring and some worried.

Catrina was shaking slightly and tears were welling up in her eyes despite how much she was trying to stay calm and unbothered. But it had been such a long time since she was yelled at and the insults sounded like things Matt would have shouted at her when she annoyed him. Catrina looked at the ground and wiped furiously at her eyes, ashamed for crying. "I just want to help." She said, mentally berating herself when her voice cracked slightly.

Daryl clenched his teeth. Dammit, he hadn't meant to make the girl cry. He'd just gotten super pissed at the idea of taking another little girl out there and losing her too. They weren't going to lose another one and it certainly wasn't going to be his fucking fault if they did. Dammit, dammit, dammit! He had to fix this before one of the others decided to tell him off. Daryl knelt down in front of the girl, placing his crossbow on the ground. "Hey, listen." Daryl said, a lot gentler than before. Catrina looked up at him and damn did those teary eyes make him feel guilty. "I didn't mean to yell, okay? I just don't want to risk losing another kid." He told her, grudgingly admitting his fear cause that was probably the only way she was going to listen to him. Kids didn't respond well to lies.

"But I want to help." Catrina said, her voice a little stronger now that she wasn't crying anymore. She still couldn't believe she'd cried. Matt had always told her she was too strong to cry. Did this mean she was weak now? She didn't want to be weak. You died if you were weak.

Daryl frowned, thinking. Finding Sophia was obviously just as important to the girl as it was to everyone else. He figured she'd eventually try to help, with or without them. It would be better if she went out with someone instead of alone but not right now. "We won't be able to keep you from going out there eventually, will we?" Daryl asked the girl, just to make sure. Catrina gave him a look that confirmed she wouldn't stay on the farm long. Daryl almost laughed; it was the same sort of look he'd given Merle whenever his brother had said something stupid. "Alright then, I'll make you a deal. Eat some more, get some sleep tonight, build up your strength and, if I haven't found Sophia yet, I'll take you out there with me. Alright?" He told her. She wasn't strong enough to go just yet; she still looked like a walking skeleton, so she'd have to wait. She'd also be going only with him. He didn't exactly trust the others to keep that good of an eye on her.

Catrina instantly brightened up. She wanted to go now but if this was the best offer she was going to get then she was going to take it. "Okay." She said, grinning. It wouldn't take much for her to be ready to go out there and she was even going to be going out with Daryl! It was serious business but it also sounded kind of fun. Maybe Daryl would teach her how to use a weapon while they were out there!

Daryl smirked and stood back up. He ruffled the girl's still slightly wet hair and chuckled when she ducked away from him, a look of annoyance on her face. "You should go sleep. Or at least go help Dale and T-Dog. I think they're grabbing water." He told the girl, pointing to where the two men had gone.

Catrina nodded and started to run off but then she stopped. Daryl was about to leave. By himself. He might get hurt or he might not even come back. He was the only person Catrina even remotely trusted, she couldn't just let him leave. A goodbye was out of the question though, her mama had always told her goodbyes were permanent and she didn't want Daryl gone forever. So Catrina turned back to him and pinched his arm softly. "Be careful." She ordered him before running off.

Daryl watched the girl run off, amused and a bit surprised. "Little Daddy Dixon." Andrea said as she walked by, her tone joking. Daryl growled something unintelligible at her before walking off. Andrea's laughter followed him.


	4. The Well Walker

"Dale! Dale!" Catrina shouted as she ran to catch up to the two men. She could hardly breathe, she'd run so far already, but she managed to shout. They stopped when they heard her and she managed to run the rest of the way to them before practically collapsing.

Dale managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground though he was shocked when she fell. "Whoa there! Okay, just take deep breaths sweetie." Dale said as he carefully pulled her up into his arms. He carried her over to the cart T-Dog was pushing and set her down inside. "You okay?" He asked the girl once she'd regained her breath a bit.

Catrina nodded, her hand pressed to her chest because OW. Maybe running so far hadn't been the best idea. She felt dizzy too, definitely not her best idea. "Daryl said I should come help you if I wasn't going to sleep." She told the man between breaths. There was a mantra taking up space in her head that consisted of only one word repeated over and over again. Ow.

"I doubt he meant for you to run the whole way out here though." Dale said. He removed his hat and put it on her head, trying to shield her from the hot sun as much as possible. He figured she needed the shade more than he did.

"Had to catch up." Catrina said, smiling slightly. Dale was letting her wear his weird hat! She adjusted it so that she could see and grinned up at Dale who smiled down at her. "How do I look?" She asked jokingly.

"Fantastic." Dale told her, pulling the hat drown to cover her eyes. He gestured for T-Dog to start pushing the cart again and they started towards the water pump and well again. "Just until you gain your strength back, Cat, I suggest you lay off the running." He told the girl as she readjusted the hat.

Catrina frowned when she realized T-Dog (she was assuming that was who he was since Daryl had said he was with Dale) was pushing her along with the cart. She wasn't so weak she couldn't walk. She tried to get out of the cart but when she caught sight of the stern look on T-Dog's face she stopped. "Yes sir." She grumbled angrily before getting comfortable in the cart.

Something seemed to be eating at T-Dog cause when they reached the water pump he started talking to Dale about not being weak and not meaning something he had said. Catrina didn't really pay attention; she was too interested in everything around her. It had just really hit her that they were on a farm. An actual farm! She'd never been on one before. She knew they had cows and chickens but what about horses? She'd always loved seeing those big creatures on TV and had always wanted one but her parents had said no every time she asked. Maybe Beth would show them to her, if they had any. Catrina didn't come out of her thoughts until she realized Dale and T-Dog were talking about Sophia. She was going to tell them off like she did Shane until she realized they were betting on the girl being found. So it was just Shane then who expected them not to find her or to find her dead. Catrina frowned, hating Shane even more now.

"Everyone pitches in, does their part. Am I right?" T-Dog said, talking about the search for Sophia. Dale started walking over to the well as the other man spoke, something about it drawing his attention.

"I'm doing my part. Daryl says when I'm a bit better he'll let me help look for Sophia with him." Catrina piped in cheerfully. She felt like she ought to brag about it. She had a feeling Daryl didn't take people out with him often which meant, as one of the people he was taking, she was pretty damn lucky.

T-Dog smiled at her but didn't comment. He didn't exactly think the girl should be going out there into the woods but, despite everything, he trusted Daryl. If the man thought it was a good idea then it probably was. "You want a drink?" He asked the girl, holding up a ladle full of water. Catrina eagerly jumped out of the cart and came over. T-Dog held the ladle out to her and she was about to drink from it but suddenly Dale came over and knocked it to the ground. T-Dog and Catrina both stared at him in shock.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you." Dale told the girl. T-Dog understood immediately but Catrina didn't. She slowly started walking towards the well, wondering what could be the problem."Go get the others. Tell them we've got a problem." Dale instructed the other man who nodded and instantly started back towards camp. Catrina wasn't even to the well yet when Dale realized she'd moved away from them. "Careful. You really don't want to fall in." He told her.

"Why not?" Catrina asked. She already knew falling into a well was a bad thing but why would it be really bad? She got her answer when she reached the well and peered inside. There was a big disgusting Walker inside, clawing at the well's walls and snarling. It looked mutated. "Ew! What happened to it?!" She asked Dale as she continued to stare down at the nasty thing.

"I think the water did that." Dale told her. Catrina made a disgusted face that would have amused Dale if the situation wasn't so serious. "Here, help me remove these boards. Have to get a good look at this thing." He told her. Catrina nodded and started prying up the old boards with her hands. Dale chuckled and grabbed a crowbar from the cart. Catrina took it when he offered it and the job became much easier. She had to admit, being allowed to actually help with something serious was refreshing. She'd done more important work than this in her former group but it still felt good.

They were all done by the time T-Dog came back with the big group. Dale had helped some but not much. Catrina chalked it up to him being old, like her grandpa had been. He was smart though, he'd brought a flashlight along. He said it was a "just in case" decision. Catrina just thought he was smart.

"We got ourselves a swimmer." Dale told the group. Everyone gathered around and peered down at the Walker. It growled at them and clawed at the well's walls.

"How long do you think it's been down there?" Glenn asked. He was keeping a relatively safe distance from the well just like everyone else. No one wanted to fall in with that thing. Catrina tried to get a closer look but Dale pushed her back till she couldn't even see the Walker. She pouted at that and walked over to Andrea who didn't try to stop her from getting a closer look. Dale gave both of them annoyed disapproving looks.

"Long enough to grow gills." Andrea said, sounding at least a tad disgusted.

"It's disgusting." Catrina said, making a face. Gross stuff was actually kind of interesting but not when it was a Walker. "We should get rid of it." She told the adults.

"She's right." Lori said. She looked up from examining the Walker to look at the other adults. Catrina looked at her in surprise; she hadn't expected her of all people to say that. She'd thought the woman wouldn't take any idea of hers seriously. "We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water." The woman said.

Shane nodded in agreement. "Got to get it out." He said. Catrina shot him an annoyed look, Lori had just said that. He didn't need to repeat her.

"Easy. Put a bullet in its head." T-Dog said. Catrina had to admit that it was the easiest plan any of them could think of. Her stomach twisted though at the thought of gunshot and not just because the sound would attract more Walkers. "I'll get a rope." He said, taking a step back from the well.

"Whoa! Whoa guys!" Maggie (that was her name right? Beth had mentioned her while Catrina ate) said, looking almost panicked. Everyone looked at her in confusion and she stared back at them, her eyes stern. "No." She told them firmly.

Now everyone was definitely confused. Catrina was kind of relieved though, at least someone else didn't want them to shoot the Walker. She felt the knot in her stomach lessen slightly. "Why not? It's a good plan." Glenn said.

"It's a stupid plan." Andrea told him, sounding a bit angry. Catrina looked at her and scrunched her nose in annoyance, thinking that it was rude of Andrea to call the plan stupid. "If that thing hasn't contaminated the water already blowing its brains out will finish the job." Andrea said.

Catrina looked down into the well and had to admit the woman was right. She wasn't quite sure what contaminated meant but she thought it must have something to do with the Walker making the water nasty. A few of the adults agreed with Andrea. "So it has to come out alive." T-Dog said, staring down at the Walker with distaste.

"So to speak." Shane said. It would have been a decent joke if the situation and his voice hadn't sounded so serious.

"How do we do that?" Glenn questioned the group. Everyone exchanged looks, trying to think of something. "T-Dog mentioned rope. We could try to haul it out of there." Glenn suggested after a moment. Catrina looked at him, thinking that was smart.

"How are we supposed to get the rope around it?" Andrea asked, her eyes going down to the Walker. Catrina frowned a little, wondering why the woman was pointing out problems instead of trying to think of solutions. Her mama had always told her that she should try to think things through herself before asking others to do so. Catrina thought everyone should do that. "It'll be pretty difficult getting a rope around its neck." Andrea pointed out.

"You could trick it." Catrina suggested without thinking. The adults all looked at her and she tried not to squirm under their gaze. "Like, loop the rope and make it walk into the loop. They set traps like that in my old group." She told the adults, feeling a tad awkward. She hoped they knew what the heck she was talking about cause she didn't think she could explain it any better.

"It might work." Glenn told the group. Catrina looked at him and grinned, glad someone approved of her plan. "That thing looks hungry. We could bait it with some meat and get it to walk through the loop." He said. Catrina's grin turned proud as the adults considered her idea and seemed to agree with it.

Dale left for a few minutes and came back with a rope, some strong string that Catrina thought may have been from a fishing rod, and a large piece of ham. Catrina watched as the group set up the ham so that it hung from the fishing rod string until they were done before turning her eyes on the rope Shane had in his hands. Shane saw her eyeing the rope and he motioned her over. Catrina still didn't like him, she really didn't like him, but she walked over to him nonetheless. "Hey, you wanna learn how to tie a noose?" Shane asked her, holding the rope up to her so she knew a noose had to do with the rope. He didn't exactly know how much this girl knew about anything.

"Shane I don't think that's appropriate." Dale voiced from his side of the well, looking over with disapproval.

"Why not?" Catrina asked curiously. She knew what a noose was but why shouldn't she learn to tie one? It had to be a useful thing to know if Shane wanted her to learn it, right? What were nooses used for anyway? She couldn't remember. She just remembered Matt getting uncomfortable when she'd asked him and telling her to go play.

Dale looked uncomfortable. Shane looked up at the man, a glare in his eyes but not on his face. "It's just not something a little girl should know." Dale told her; unable to think of a response he was willing to say to the girl. He wanted to say that she shouldn't know cause nooses were meant for suicide and a little girl like her in an apocalyptic world did not need to know how to kill herself.

"She needs to learn things, Dale. She can't rely on luck forever." Shane told the man. He was trying to smooth his relationship with the girl out. Rick had took him aside and said he should lighten up on the girl cause she was just a kid. He wasn't going to listen till he realized getting along with the girl would help his relationship with everyone else. She was improving their opinion of Dixon, something Shane hadn't thought possible, so he figured it would work for him. He turned back to the girl. "It's up to you." He told her.

Catrina pursed her lips in thought. Dale didn't want her to learn how to tie a noose but the way he talked…it made her think he thought she was useless. She trusted him more than Shane but Shane was right, she should learn things. She needed to learn things so that if she ever got lost in the woods again she'd be able to catch her some food or something. She could use a noose to catch food, right? "I want to learn." She said firmly, staring down at the rope in Shane's hands with determination. Dale let out a disappointed sigh but Catrina pretended not to have heard it. She didn't like disappointing people but she wanted to learn how to tie a noose and by God she was going to. Catrina scrunched her nose at her own thoughts. One because they weren't good and two because no one her age ever said "by God."

"Good girl." Shane praised her. Catrina flinched, remembering those same words being spoken to her not long ago by someone much scarier than Shane. She shuddered at the memory and took a step away from Shane. He looked at her in confusion. "You alright there kid?" He asked her. Catrina quickly nodded when she realized what she'd done and stepped back towards Shane. Shane decided not to pester her further about it, not really caring anyway, and placed the rope on the ground. "Alright so first you put the rope down and make it into a C shape." He told her, adjusting the rope so that it looked the way he wanted it to.

Shane managed to teach Catrina how to tie a noose pretty quickly. He was surprised by how quickly she learned, he'd thought she'd be a bit dumb for some reason. He gave her a sideways look as he brought the noose over to the well. "Thanks for teaching me, Shane." She mumbled out before scurrying over to Dale. The older man placed a hand on her thin little shoulder and looked at Shane with obvious disapproval. Shane decided to ignore him though he wondered why the girl suddenly decided to run from him.

Catrina watched hopefully as the adults lowered the meat and the noose down into the well, walking around to T-Dog so she could get a better look. Dale tried to loop the noose around the Walker's neck while Shane tried his hardest to lure the Walker with the ham. Catrina frowned in disappointment when the Walker didn't go for the meat. "He's not going for it." Dale pointed out the obvious.

"I really thought that'd work." Catrina said, frowning in disappointment. She'd wanted to help but she'd failed. Her idea was useless.

T-Dog placed a hand on Catrina's shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It was a good plan." He told her sincerely. Catrina gave him a look that said she didn't believe him. "It was." T-Dog insisted. Catrina tried to smile at him, to at least pretend she believed him, but she didn't manage it. She was too disappointed by how her plan had fell through. "Just didn't work cause canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it. Walkers don't want something that's already dead." T-Dog told her.

"He's right. There's a reason the dead didn't come back and start raiding our cupboards." Lori said, looking up at everybody.

"We need live bait." Andrea said. Her eyes turned on Glenn and everyone else's did too. Glenn looked around at everyone, realizing what they wanted him to do.

Catrina stared at the adults, a feeling of dread in her stomach. They were staring at Glenn and Glenn looked somewhere between angry and scared. That could only mean one thing; they were going to use Glenn as bait. "Are you guys thinking of using Glenn?" She asked the adults, concerned and a tad frightened. Surely they wouldn't. That was sick. Cruel. It wasn't something good people did.

"It's alright, Catrina." Glenn told the girl. He looked down into the well, a bit of fear in his eyes. "The group comes first." He said. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that. Catrina eyed him doubtfully and he gave her a soft smile. "Really, I'll be fine." He assured the girl. Catrina looked at him doubtfully but nodded.

The whole time the adults were helping Glenn get ready to go in the well, Catrina stood off to the side watching. She didn't understand why they had to use Glenn. They could have just gotten a chicken and hung it down in front of the Walker like they had done with the ham but it didn't seem like any of the adults had thought to do that. She thought of suggesting it but decided against it. If her idea didn't work again they'd probably think she was stupid.

Catrina ran to Maggie's side when they started to lower Glenn down into the well. She was nervous. Glenn seemed pretty nice; she didn't want him to die down in the well all because the adults weren't smart enough to use a chicken. "Doing okay?" Maggie asked, leaning in so she could see Glenn.

"Doing great!" Glenn called back up, smiling. It was a nervous smile though, not believable in the least.

Maggie knelt down beside the well and Catrina stood behind her, peering down as best she could. "Cat, come away from there." Dale told her. Catrina looked nervously down at Glenn before reluctantly walking over to Dale. She walked behind him and stood near him. A few seconds later she found herself clinging to his shirt in fear. She couldn't see Glenn anymore and it made her more nervous. "He'll be okay." Dale assured her, glancing back at her briefly. Catrina nodded but didn't really believe Dale.

A second later, the water pump broke.

Catrina ran to the well as the adults scrambled to keep the pipe from breaking any further. They didn't succeed though and it fell farther. Catrina watched in horror as Glenn dropped down into the Walker's reach. She screamed, shouted for the adults to help him, and shook like crazy. She couldn't rip her eyes off of Glenn as he kicked and screamed at them to save him. If the Walker got him, she didn't want to see him get eaten, but she couldn't look away. That is, till she noticed the rope moving upwards again. She looked over and saw the adults actually succeeding at pulling the pipe and the rope back. She smiled slightly and looked back down at Glenn. "They're pulling you up! Hang on!" Catrina shouted down at the still panicking Glenn. She couldn't blame him for panicking. Everyone was panicking.

The second Glenn was sitting on the edge of the well, on something solid, the adults rushed forward and pulled him out. Everyone asked him if he was okay and eventually he nodded, his eyes on the ground as he tried to calm down. Catrina went over to Maggie and stood beside her. The woman placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring nod before going back to calming herself down. Catrina almost laughed, just as freaked out as Maggie but feeling a lot better now that Glenn was safe. Her heart was hammering against her chest so hard it hurt but she just smiled. Glenn was alive and that was good. No one had died. She didn't have to see another person die.

"Back to the drawing board." Dale said, sounding disappointed.

Glenn looked up at him and grinned. "Says you." He said. He got up, struggling to do so slightly, and handed the rope in his hand to Dale. Dale looked at him in confusion then started pulling the rope. When he realized it wasn't just coming up he walked forward in surprise, pulling the rope as he did. All the adults peered down into the well and Catrina peered in with them. The small smile that had been on her face grew into a large one when she saw the rope secured tightly to the Walker.

"Glenn, you are awesome." Catrina said, looking back at the man. He smiled at her in reply.

The adults soon started pulling the Walker up out of the well with a bit of help from a great big horse. Catrina stood by T-Dog as they did, watching. The Walker snarled as he was lifted up, moving his arms about as he tried to claw at everything. Shane and T-Dog shouted encouragement. Catrina felt like shouting too but she felt like they'd mock her or something. Eventually the Walker was far enough out that T-Dog had to pull Catrina back so she wouldn't be grabbed by the Walker. The adults kept tugging but something was wrong. The Walker wasn't moving. T-Dog shouted that it was stuck and Catrina thought that it had to be stuck on its belt. She stared at it, disgusted and horrified, as it snarled and thrashed around. Even its snarls sounded wet. Its eyes landed on her briefly and she stumbled back, frightened by the great big bulging orbs.

The adults tugged hard. Catrina shouted at them to stop, seeing a split appear in the Walker's stomach. It was too late though. The Walker split in half, its guts spilling out. T-Dog stepped forward like he was going to catch the other half but it fell down into the well. Catrina watched as the blood sprayed out even as it fell and had to turn away before she puked. She waited till she heard the legs hit the water before turning back. The Walker still tried to get at them, even split in half. Catrina saw its spine sticking out and made a sickened face. The adults stared at the half Walker in defeat while T-Dog looked extremely mad. "We should seal off this well." Dale said, staring at the Walker like it was the most disgusting thing he had ever seen.

"Yeah, might be a good idea." Shane said. Catrina almost shot him an angry look, thinking that this was no time for sarcasm.

Andrea started to ask what they should do with the Walker but before she got a chance T-Dog took his pickaxe and smashed it into the Walker's skull. Catrina let out a surprised scream and stumbled back, shaking severely. The adults all stared in horror, all except Maggie who looked away. Catrina wanted to look away too but she couldn't. Her eyes were transfixed on the Walker that T-Dog just kept hitting. She felt sick. She felt horribly sick. Maggie walked away. T-Dog turned to the other adults. "Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it." He told them. Catrina turned away and threw up on the ground.

"Dammit, T-Dog, look what you did." Andrea said angrily, glaring at the man. She walked over to Catrina and rubbed her back as she continued to vomit up at least half of the meal Beth had fed her. "Let it out, sweetie. Just let it out." Andrea told the girl, feeling bad for the poor thing.

Catrina felt tears sting her eyes, throwing up always hurt her throat. She was shaking, she knew it too, but she couldn't stop. She spat out the horrible taste in her mouth when she was done, coughing a bit too. "Sorry." She said before spitting some more.

"It's okay, sweetie." Dale told her, walking over. Catrina didn't look at him. She could see, if she looked back a little, T-Dog standing awkwardly away from everyone. He was looking in her direction, or at least his feet were, and he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot. She wondered why he hadn't stormed off yet. Usually after doing something that violent and getting told off adults wandered off. Either that or they got in fist fights. Catrina hated it when adults got in fist fights. They were scary. "It's okay." Dale repeated.

"No it's not." Catrina said. She wiped at her mouth then wiped the spit on her pants. She let out a choking sound then straightened up. "I needed to keep that in my stomach. I haven't eaten in days and I just threw up most of what I ate." She said, anger appearing in her voice. She couldn't believe she'd done that. She couldn't believe she'd thrown up. Just cause the last time she'd seen a Walker killed was a week ago when… "I was weak, throwing up like that. I shouldn't have been that weak." She said angrily.

"Catrina—." Dale started.

"No." Catrina said firmly. She looked over at Dale, a slight glare on her face. "I shouldn't have been that weak. If you're weak, you die." She told him. He seemed shocked. All the adults did. She didn't care though and she walked away, feeling their stares on her back.

Dale stared after the girl, in shock. "What type of group was she with before this?" Lori asked the group, seeming to be just as shocked as Dale.

"A smart one." Andrea stated. Everyone looked at her in surprise, everyone except Shane. Shane thought she was right. "If you can't deal with this world, you die. That little girl knows that." Andrea said, pointing in the direction Catrina had gone.

"That little girl shouldn't think that." Lori said, getting angry. Andrea and Lori started to have a glaring competition. "She is a little girl." Lori said, emphasizing the words as if she thought Andrea didn't know that fact. Lori thought that the woman had forgotten the meaning to the words. "She shouldn't have to be as strong as an adult. She shouldn't think that she has to be! Whoever told her that had to be awful! Anyone who thinks a little girl has to pull her own weight deserved whatever they got." She said firmly.

"Lori." Shane started.

"Don't 'Lori' me." Lori snapped at Shane, glaring at him. He didn't say anything to her which just seemed to spur her on. "What were you thinking? Teaching her how to tie a noose? What, was that your way of telling her to hang herself?" She asked him furiously. Shane licked his bottom lip and looked away, obviously mad but unable to think of anything to say. Lori turned on T-Dog. "And you! What were you thinking bashing a Walker's skull in right in front of her? Did anyone else notice the blood that hit her? I doubt she did but did any of you even care enough to notice?" Lori looked around at the group. A few met her eyes but then looked away. T-Dog looked away. "That girl is Carl's age. That girl is Sophia's age. Would any of you be saying that Sophia needs to pull her own weight? Would you be saying Sophia needs to toughen up or die? Would you put that much weight on a child's shoulders? Would you just let her think she has to be strong on her own?" Lori questioned all of them. No one was looking at her now, most of them filled with guilt. Lori glared at all of them, seeming surprisingly motherly towards the girl. "Stop acting like she can take care of herself like an adult and start realizing she needs our help." She told them. With that, she stormed away just like Catrina had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dead, White, and Blue weekend so here's another chapter. I hope you like it. Next chapter has more Daryl and Catrina interaction to all of you who like their relationship.


	5. Out of Energy and a Nightmare

Catrina sat in the stables, frowning at everything. She hadn't gone straight there after storming away, she went looking for Daryl first, but she'd eventually ended up at the stables. Two of the horses were gone, Glenn and Maggie had left. She wasn't surprised, the farm was pretty big and she'd been walking for a long time before she finally got to the stables. Her lungs hurt from so much walking and her limbs felt really weak. She felt too light and yet her limbs felt too heavy. She kind of felt separated from earth and she regretted walking around so much. She knew she wasn't strong enough to do that and yet she'd done it. Catrina mentally berated herself for being so stupid. And so weak.

Sometime later Catrina heard someone shouting. She opened her eyes (when had she closed them?) to find Glenn hovering over her with worry on his face. "Cat?! Oh God, Catrina!? She must have passed out!" He was talking to someone. Catrina moved her head and saw someone, maybe Maggie, kneeled down on her other side.

"Glenn?" Catrina mumbled out. She tried sitting up but Maggie gently pushed her back down.

"You just stay still a moment, okay?" Maggie told her, her voice gentle. Catrina didn't nod but she let out a sound that said she'd stay still. "What happened, Cat? Why'd you pass out?" The woman asked. Catrina let out a sound that said she didn't know. "Well what were you doing before you came in here?" She asked.

"Walked around the farm." Catrina said tiredly, weakly.

Maggie let out a sigh. "She just used up too much energy. Her body shut down to keep her organs working." She told Glenn. God, when she'd seen the little girl passed out on the ground she thought the worst. That the girl had died somehow. Maggie couldn't stand the idea. After all, she was just a child. A child dying was one of the saddest things she could think of. "That's not good but it's better than her being dead." She told Glenn.

"Definitely." Glenn agreed. He'd been so scared that the girl had gotten bit or something and that they'd have to put her down. They'd just saved this girl, she'd just found a safe place. Her dying would break the group. Just like if they didn't find Sophia it would break the group.

"Can I sit up now? I feel better." Catrina said, looking back and forth between the adults. Glenn instantly looked to Maggie who nodded. They gently helped her into a sitting position and after that they helped her stand. Catrina's legs wobbled but she managed to keep standing. "Thank you." She said politely.

Maggie frowned at the little girl. "You need to rest." She told the girl.

Catrina shook her head slowly, not wanting to hurt her head by shaking it too much too quickly. "Need food. I threw up earlier." She admitted. Maggie looked over at Glenn, he'd told her that when she'd come back to get the horse and seen the vomit on the ground. "And I can't rest. I don't have anywhere to sleep." She pointed out.

"We can find you a place to sleep, Cat." Glenn told her immediately. Rick's tent was out; he already had Lori and Carl in there. Carol's tent was out too cause Sophia slept in there and it would just feel wrong putting Catrina in there like they were trying to replace Sophia with her. T-Dog had a tent but it was a one person tent, too small for Catrina to sleep in. Glenn, Dale, and Andrea had taken to sleeping in the RV so their tents were still packed up. That wouldn't work anyways though, Catrina couldn't sleep alone. Glenn considered the final two options. Shane's tent or Daryl's? Neither was exactly a good idea in his opinion. Shane wouldn't want the girl with him and Glenn didn't exactly trust him to be nice to the girl if she stayed in his tent. Daryl…well he would probably mind if the girl ended up in his tent. He'd probably get annoyed with her pretty quickly too. Though, if he thought about it, Daryl had been surprisingly good with the girl so far.

"No, don't. I'll be fine. Don't inconvenience anybody." Catrina said quickly. She didn't want to be a burden on anyone. If she was a burden they wouldn't want her around anymore. She'd lose a safe place to sleep and food. Oh God, food. She just couldn't lose that again. She was fine with only getting a morsel a day so long as she actually got to have something. Glenn and Maggie exchanged frowns. "I'm gonna go sit in the RV." Catrina mumbled out, starting to walk out of the stables.

"Oh whoa, wait a minute!" Glenn said, catching the girl as she stumbled away from them. Catrina turned and frowned at him but couldn't muster up enough strength to fight him. "I'll carry you back." He said. Without waiting for a reply, he stood and scooped the girl up. She weighed a lot less than he expected she would. It made him worry. Catrina made a noise of protest and hit her hand against his chest but then she snuggled against him, resting her head against his shoulder. Her eyes started to close. "Hey, hold on. You gotta stay awake for right now, okay? Just till we can find you someplace comfortable to lie down." Glenn told her. Catrina hummed at him but didn't say anything. It was just like when Daryl had picked her up the night before; she was just too tired to stay awake when she no longer had to stand.

Maggie looked at Glenn and had to admit he looked kind of cute acting like a dad.

***

Daryl was emerging from the RV after talking to Carol when he saw Glenn. For a minute he thought the Korean was just walking with Maggie but then he saw that the kid was carrying something. Catrina. Without thinking, he took off towards the Korean and Maggie. "What happened?" He shouted at them as he got nearer. That caught the group's attention. They all turned and when they saw Catrina in Glenn's arms they all started to rush over. Daryl, of course, got to them first. "What the hell did you do?" He asked, sounding surprisingly angry. He had left the girl at the farm so she wouldn't get hurt. If these people had screwed up again and gotten another person hurt he was gonna be pissed. They weren't losing another little girl.

"Nothing!" Glenn said immediately, looking panicked. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of Daryl's anger. The rest of the group arrived then, looking worried and a few even asked what was going on.

Catrina stirred slightly, her eyelids cracking open a bit more. She mumbled out something that could have been a "hi Daryl" and moved her hand in what could have been a wave before resting heavily against Glenn again. Daryl surprised himself by placing his crossbow down and carefully taking her from Glenn. The group watched him in surprise but he didn't look at any of them. He reasoned with himself that he was taking care of her so much because he didn't want to risk another situation like the one with Sophia. He didn't tell the group that though. It was none of their business why he was being protective of the little girl.

"Hey little one. Hey sweetie." Daryl mumbled to the girl. He thought maybe a few of the group heard him but none of them dared comment. Daryl looked up at Glenn, glaring a bit. "What happened?" He asked angrily.

"She walked around the farm. Used too much energy." Maggie said. She didn't exactly like how Glenn was being treated, especially after the well incident. She sort of understood why Daryl was being so mean though. At least, she thought she understood. She'd noticed that he seemed to be the closest to the girl, almost like a father or older brother. Which was sort of weird seeing as the group had made it clear that they hadn't known the girl that long. "Her body shut down on her so she'd have enough energy to keep her organs working. Not enough sleep and throwing up earlier didn't exactly help her." She told the redneck.

"Why the hell she throw up?" Daryl asked, already knowing he wasn't gonna like the answer.

T-Dog cleared his throat awkwardly. Daryl turned his eyes on him, glaring more. "There was a Walker in the well. We were getting it out and it split in half, contaminating the water. I got mad and bashed its skull in in front of her." T-Dog told him, never one to keep the truth from someone. Especially not Daryl. He wronged the man once, he wasn't gonna do it again. "It was pretty bad." He admitted.

Daryl was about to get onto the man until Catrina let out a quiet noise that sounded like his name. He glared at T-Dog some more then ducked his head so that his ear was closer to Catrina. "Huh? Whatcha say, Shortie?" He asked her. She made an annoyed face at him.

"Sorry." Catrina managed to say. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep now.

"For what, Cat?" Daryl asked. He was worried, not that he'd admit it. She sounded just as tired as the night before. Was she not improving at all? Dammit, he'd trusted these people to take care of her!

Catrina squirmed a little, making herself more comfortable. She buried her eyes in the crook of Daryl's neck. Memories of her dad carrying her to bed popped in her mind. "Was weak." She explained quietly.

Daryl looked down at the girl. He knew even after just a day that being strong was important to her. Whoever had been in her last group had been some pretty tough assholes and not in a good way. "It's alright, Cat. Don't expect ya to be immune to bashed in Walker heads." He told her. Catrina just hummed in response. Daryl carefully resecured his hold on her, making sure he wouldn't drop her.

"She needs to sleep." Glenn pointed out. Daryl nodded, agreeing completely. Catrina was breathing calmly and deeply now, almost asleep. He would think she was if it weren't for her eyes opening every once in a while. "I was wondering where we'd put her. The RV's kind of crowded and the uh only available tents are um yours and Shane's." Glenn said nervously.

Daryl and Shane instantly looked at each other. Everyone could see Daryl's response to the situation in his eyes. There was no way he was gonna let Shane near the little girl. He didn't trust that asshole. Shane didn't like most people and she figured he wouldn't be very nice to the girl if she joked in the wrong way. Daryl didn't think Shane would hit the girl but he wasn't sure. If the man was pushed far enough he might. Daryl bit the inside of his cheek. Did he really want the girl in his tent though? He didn't but at the same time he did. He couldn't explain it. If Merle was here now he'd tell Glenn to fuck off, that they weren't gonna take care of some brat that wasn't theirs. But Merle wasn't there. And Daryl wasn't Merle.

"She'll stay in my tent. Just till we can find her a better place." Daryl told the group. He felt some surprised eyes on him but he didn't say or do anything in response to them.

"Carol set up your tent for you." Andrea spoke up. She'd been joking about Daryl being a perfect daddy but, watching him with Catrina, she started to wonder if her joke was really a joke. Had Daryl been a dad? He'd said no but she seriously doubted he hadn't been when she saw how well he got along with Catrina. She wondered why he'd never been this good with Carl or Sophia.

Daryl didn't say anything as he turned and carried Catrina to his tent. He was surprised when he carried her in and saw his tent set up exactly how he usually liked it. He made a note to thank Carol later before carrying the girl over to where he usually slept. He could deal with sleeping somewhere else till they could find her a better place to sleep. He pulled back the admittedly thin blanket he owned and gently laid the girl down on the empty space. She groaned as she was moved away from her warm comfortable pillow (a.k.a Daryl's shoulder). Daryl shushed her gently and carefully moved her till she looked comfortable. He pulled the blanket up over her, covering her up to her chin. She immediately curled into a little ball, wrapping the blanket tighter around her.

"Daryl." Catrina mumbled out, grabbing Daryl's wrist gently and holding onto him.

"What Cat?" Daryl asked her. He didn't pull away though he could do it very easily. She had no strength and her grip on his wrist was so weak. It made him worry.

"Thanks." The little girl mumbled out. She fell asleep immediately after that, her hand dropping off his wrist. Daryl tucked her little arm beneath the blanket before ruffling her hair gently and leaving.

Daryl checked in on the girl periodically for the rest of the day. She didn't stir, not even a little. He considered waking her when there was food but he eventually decided against it. She had at least some food in her stomach so she needed to focus on sleeping. Besides, they could actually give her food the moment she woke up now. Daryl was glad the girl could actually get some good sleep again. He was about to get some sleep himself when Carol came walking out of the RV. She saw him and walked over, a small smile on her face.

"Thanks." Daryl said without thinking. Carol looked at him in confusion and he ducked his head down. "For setting up my stuff." He clarified, not quite meeting her eyes even when he looked at her.

"Oh. Well, you're welcome." Carol said, pleasantly surprised. He just kept surprising her. First with the flower then with the compliments about the RV. Carol glanced inside his tent and saw Catrina passed out in Daryl's usual spot. She smiled softly though her eyes looked sad, her heart aching for her own little girl. "She looks so sweet." She commented, turning away. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes, tears starting to fall.

Daryl didn't know what to say, not really. He glanced in at the little girl and thought about Sophia. About how sure he was that she'd come back. "She's gonna get along with Sophia." He said, not sure if that was the right thing to say. At least it made it sound like Sophia was gonna come back.

Carol smiled at Daryl, her eyes still watering but not as bad. "You think so?" She asked. He nodded to her, looking dead serious. Carol's smile grew a bit. "Thank you." She told him. He just nodded to her again and Carol wondered if he had ever really been thanked for anything. He didn't seem to know how to accept it. "You should get some sleep. You must be exhausted." She said. He nodded again. Carol just shook her head and smiled. "Goodnight Daryl." She said before turning and walking back to her tent.

Daryl watched her go a moment before turning and ducking inside his tent. He started making up a space for him to sleep when he heard Catrina whimper. He looked over to see her moving fitfully in her sleep, a look of fear on her face.

***

Matt was dragging her along, running as fast as he could with her hand in his. She stumbled behind him, trying to keep up but not succeeding. She almost fell but he pulled her up, feeling her about to hit the ground. "Come on Trina! Come on! We gotta run faster!" He told her.

Catrina sniveled and wiped her nose. "Mama." She despaired, tears in her eyes.

Matt looked back at her, pity and grief on his face. "I know Trina, I know. I'm so sorry." He said, his voice filled with sadness. He looked like he was ready to cry. Catrina watched as he brought his arm up and wiped his eyes.

Something came out of the trees beside them. Catrina screamed, thinking it was one of them. She realized a second too late that it was one of the dead. Matt looked up at her scream and immediately pushed her away from him, far behind him out of harm's reach. Because of that he didn't get even a second to protect himself. The dead thing sunk its teeth into his arm and ripped off a large chunk of flesh and meat.

***

"Cat!" Daryl whisper shouted, shaking the girl. She was having a nightmare and a pretty bad one too. Tears were pouring down her cheeks and she was whimpering. Daryl shook her again. "Cat!" He said, just a bit louder. The girl's eyes flew open and she cried out, throwing out weak little fists to get him away from her. Daryl wasn't sure she knew it was him cause the second she saw someone hovering over her her eyes had shut. "Cat! It's me! Dammit girl, stop it!" He said, catching her thin little wrists in one hand. She stopped moving and looked up at him.

"Daryl?" Her voice cracked with tears. She was shaking badly.

Daryl would be lying if he said that the scared little voice didn't make him feel like crap. He should have woken her up quicker. Should have gotten her up the very second he noticed something wrong. "Yeah Cat, it's me." He told her. He blinked in surprise when the girl suddenly sat up, flinging her little arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't exactly the comforting type, he didn't think, and he didn't have an example of how you were supposed to handle a nightmare frightened kids. His parents hadn't exactly been the caring type and Merle had always just told him to suck it up when he had a nightmare. He considered getting Carol or Dale but he realized the girl wasn't gonna detach from him. Daryl didn't know how to take care of her but he figured he could wing it. "Alright, shhh, you're alright." He told her, lifting her up into the air. He moved so that he was sitting where she'd been sleeping and positioned her so that he was holding her tightly against his chest.

"Th-there was a-a Walker! And i-i-it bi-bit—!" Catrina couldn't keep talking. She succumbed to her tears, shaking even more.

Daryl shushed her as gently as he could. "Hey, it's okay. You're safe now. I gotcha." He told her. He wondered if he was being even sort of comforting and hoped that the girl would calm down soon. Catrina sniffled and nodded, believing him completely. She clung to him tighter though, thinking on what she had lost and not wanting to lose anything else. Daryl awkwardly patted her back. "You uh wanna talk about it?" He asked. That's what you were supposed to ask right? Lucky for him, the girl shook her head quickly. "Alright." He said and just held onto her. After a minute or two where he realized she was starting to drift off, Daryl found himself humming another rock song Merle had used to play all the time.

It took a few minutes but eventually Catrina fell asleep. Daryl looked down at the little girl in his arms, surprised by how well he'd handle the situation. He wasn't a dad, never wanted to be, and yet here he was with a little girl in his arms that probably trusted him to take care of her. He didn't know how to react. He didn't want someone relying so heavily on him. What if he disappointed the girl? What if she got hurt on his watch? And he wasn't exactly dad material. Daryl carefully moved the girl so that she was once more lying down and he brought the blanket back up around her. He sat down near her, deciding that if she had another nightmare he should be close enough to wake her. She wasn't his but he wasn't gonna let her suffer. She was a little girl. One he'd saved. He wasn't gonna let anything happen to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Daryl gets injured! Just warning you cause Cat isn't going to take it well.


	6. Good Day Turned Bad

Catrina woke up to Daryl gently shaking her shoulder. She blinked up at him then quickly rubbed her eyes to get the gross sleepy stuff out of them. Once she could see right, she smiled up at Daryl. "Come on, Shortie. Time for breakfast." He told her. Catrina nodded and quickly climbed out from beneath the blanket. Daryl chuckled at her, amused by how impatient she seemed to get to breakfast. "Hungry?" He asked her though he knew the answer.

"Starving." Catrina replied, grinning. Daryl chuckled again before walking out of the tent. She followed quickly, practically right on his heels.

Breakfast was already finished when they got there. Carol handed the little girl a plate the second she came over and Catrina thanked her repeatedly before digging in. Carol watched her as she ate her own food, smiling slightly. The little girl was so sweet looking, even if she was thin and eating much too quickly. And the way Daryl interacted with her was sweet too. He was sitting beside Catrina, not talking but just sort of being there. It seemed to be a comfort to Catrina though, just having someone there, and the little girl seemed to subconsciously scoot closer Daryl. Carol's smile grew slightly. She didn't really think that having just anyone around her was what made Catrina relax and smile. She was pretty sure it had to be Daryl. He seemed to get along with the girl best. It was really sweet and Carol hoped the girl would be good for him. Maybe soften him up a bit. Get him to open up some.

When breakfast ended, Daryl went inside his tent to get changed. Catrina waited patiently for him and once he was out she grinned. He started walking towards the vehicles, not noticing her, but Catrina just jumped up and followed after him. "You're going out and searching for Sophia soon, right?" She asked as she followed him. Daryl didn't mind her at his heels and he actually found her energy reassuring. It meant the sleep and the food was doing her good. They weren't just wasting their time trying to make her healthy again. He nodded in reply. "Can I come with you?" Catrina asked hopefully.

Daryl stopped by Carol's car, the place they were supposed to be having a meeting soon, and turned to the girl. His expression wasn't stern or anything but Catrina could see the no in his eyes. "You haven't built your strength up yet, Shortie. Give it another day." He told her. He braced himself for the argument to follow. He hadn't known the girl for long but already he knew she would protest.

Catrina pouted and crossed her thin arms. "What if you find her before then? You won't take me anywhere then." She said. She really wanted to look for Sophia but she knew that, at least for today, that wasn't going to happen. So she might as well try and trick Daryl into agreeing to take her into the woods even after they found Sophia.

Daryl almost smiled. He knew what the girl was doing and he thought it was sort of funny that she thought she could actually trick him. "You won't need to go anywhere once we've got Sophia." He pointed out to her. Instantly, the girl pouted more. She didn't seem to like his answer at all. Daryl almost laughed. She was trying so hard to look grouchy but all she did was look even more like a kid.

Their conversation came to an end before Daryl or Catrina could think of anything else to say. Rick came over with the group and laid down a map on the hood of the car. "Alright, everyone's getting new search grids today." Rick said, starting the meeting. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found she might have gone further east than we've been so far." He told the group.

"I'd like to help." Jimmy, Beth's boyfriend, suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him and Catrina gave him a once over. He didn't look very strong or impressive. Nothing like Matt had been. He'd looked strong and he'd always been impressive. He could argue down an adult when he needed to. This boy looked like he could barely manage an argument. "I know the area pretty well and stuff." Jimmy said. Catrina frowned, he sounded lame.

"Herschel's okay with this?" Rick asked, sounding doubtful. Jimmy said that Herschel was and that the man had said to ask Rick but it sounded like he was lying. Or at least Catrina thought he sounded like he was lying. "Alright then. Thanks." Rick said, deciding to believe the boy. Catrina shook her head, thinking the leader of the group was wrong to do so. Daryl gave her a sharp look, telling her silently not to voice that opinion. As if she'd be so dumb.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophie to me. Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse." Shane said from where he sat in the car. Catrina gave him an annoyed look but a quick look from Daryl made her stop.

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea said, giving Shane a look that said he should stop talking. Catrina grinned at her, her opinion of the woman improving.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high." Daryl said, holding his hand an inch or two above Catrina's head. Catrina immediately stood on her tiptoes and bopped his hand with her head like she used to do with Matt. Daryl looked down at her in surprise but there was a slight twitch of his lip, like he was trying not to smile. Catrina smiled up at him before focusing back on the topic at hand. Andrea and Rick sounded hopeful about finding Sophia, Rick even suggesting they'd pick her trail up again. Daryl seemed dead certain they would. "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, get a bird's eye view of the whole grid." Daryl said, pointing out where he'd be on the map. Catrina paid close attention to where he pointed, thinking that maybe if anything happened she could go out there and get him. Or, maybe, if she thought it was a good idea, she could sneak out there and follow him around. Search for Sophia with him without him knowing. The idea seemed appealing till Catrina thought about how mad Daryl would be with her. He'd told her to stay on the farm and if she didn't listen to him he'd undoubtedly be mad at her. It would be best for her and him if she listened to him and stayed behind. "If she's up there, I'll spot her." Daryl concluded confidently.

"Good idea." T-Dog said. He'd been trying hard not to look at Catrina all day so far and it was worrying her. Was he mad at her for throwing up yesterday? She really hadn't meant to. She hoped he wasn't mad at her cause really it hadn't been her fault and she hadn't asked the adults to yell at him. Catrina bit her lip and decided to ask Daryl or maybe Andrea later if T-Dog was mad at her. "Maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there too." T-Dog said, sounding like he was joking. Catrina looked up at Daryl in confusion, not knowing what a chupacabra was. Rick didn't know what it was either or maybe he was just amused cause he repeated the word like a question but it sounded like he was laughing.

"You never heard this?" Dale asked, opening up the bag of guns he'd brought over. Catrina hadn't really been paying attention when he came by, more focused on Daryl and the others than him. She should have though cause now he was sort of squishing her against Daryl. Not that Catrina minded, Daryl made her feel safe, but Daryl might have a problem with it and Catrina didn't want him mad at her over something Dale did. Her thoughts suddenly took a left though as she noticed his hat. When had she given that back? She didn't remember ever even taking it off. Maybe it had fallen off when she got sick yesterday…"Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra." Dale said, passing Rick a gun. Catrina cocked her head to the side in confusion, wondering what on earth a chupacabra was.

Jimmy let out a laugh that earned a disapproving look from Catrina. He was laughing at Daryl and she didn't like it. "What are you braying at, jackass?" Daryl asked, giving the kid a slight glare. Catrina let out a giggle that she tried hard to muffle but didn't really manage to. Daryl's eyes flickered down to her and there was another twitch of his lips like he was going to smile.

"So you believe in a blood sucking dog?" Jimmy asked, sounding incredulous. He was still laughing a little and there was a smile on his face.

"Do you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl countered. He didn't look offended but Catrina thought that he probably was.

Jimmy didn't answer. Instead, he tried to grab Rick's rifle. Catrina immediately jumped back, hiding slightly behind Daryl. She didn't know the boy and, so far, she didn't really like him so she didn't trust him with a gun. Thankfully Rick took it away from him. "You ever fire one before?" He asked the boy, keeping the gun away from him.

The boy seemed bothered by Rick taking the gun from him. "Well if I'm going out I want one." He said. He sounded like a kid and Catrina would know since she was a kid.

"Yeah? Well people in Hell want slurpees." Daryl said, slinging his crossbow over his shoulder. He started walking off, heading in the direction of the stables. The second Catrina realized he was leaving she bounded after him, catching up after a second or two. She had to walk fast to keep up with him but she didn't mind.

"I don't like that boy." Catrina said as they walked, sounding almost thoughtful. Daryl was worried for a moment before he realized that it was probably nothing serious. Sometimes kids just didn't like people. He looked down at her, an eyebrow raised slightly so she knew he wanted her to elaborate. "I think he was lying about Herschel. And he sounds lame. And he doesn't seem to know what he's doing. I think he just wants to go out cause he's arrogant, like he thinks he knows what it's like out there and thinks it's no big deal. Matt wasn't like that. Matt knew how dangerous everything was. He would've told that boy off." Catrina said, frowning almost miserably as she stated her reasons for not liking Jimmy. Well, her reasons why Jimmy wasn't like Matt, really.

Daryl glanced down at her again. "You comparing him to Matt?" He asked her. He was guessing that her cousin had been near Jimmy's age and that was why she was only comparing him to Matt. It made sense. If her cousin had been older she would have been comparing Glenn to him and Daryl was pretty sure she hadn't been doing that.

"No." Catrina said immediately, feeling like she was going to get in trouble if she said yes. Daryl gave her a sharp look though and Catrina knew he didn't believe her for a second. "Okay maybe a little." She admitted grudgingly.

"Can't do that Cat. It's not fair to Jimmy." Daryl rebuked her. He didn't say it harshly, just as a fact. Catrina seemed to think of her cousin as some sort of god. Comparing Jimmy to him just wasn't fair seeing as there was no way he'd ever be able to reach her cousin's standards. At least in her eyes. The boy was probably at least decently competent.

Catrina frowned slightly. "I know that but I don't not like him just because he's not like Matt." She told him. Daryl gave her a curious look then. What else could make her dislike the boy? "He made fun of you." Catrina said, sort of softly. She was afraid of how Daryl was going to react.

Daryl had to admit he was surprised. The girl didn't like Jimmy cause the kid had laughed at him? Really? It didn't really make sense to him. Jimmy laughing at him was more a reason for Daryl not to like him, not Catrina. Did the girl like him that much? Once again he wondered why she had chosen him of all people. Seriously. Any of the others would have been better for her. Andrea, Carol, Glenn, T-Dog, Dale, Rick and Lori. Not Shane, definitely not Shane, but any of the others would have been better for her. Daryl wondered how long it would take the girl to realize that and he kind of hoped that when she did she wasn't too upset. Seeing the girl upset bothered him.

Daryl realized the girl was expecting a reply so he gave her one. He reached down and ruffled her hair. "Thanks Shortie but you should still try and play nice." He told her, giving her a smile. The smile surprised Catrina but she grinned back eagerly.

"I'm not very nice during games. I get too competitive." Catrina said cheerfully, as if most didn't consider that a bad trait.

They didn't talk again until they'd reached the stables. Catrina looked around it with distaste, remembering the day before and how weak she'd been, before making her way over to one of the horses. She thought horses were amazing. Really big and scary but also really pretty and gentle. Catrina held her hand out and the horse nudged her hand with its nose, causing her to let out a delighted giggle. She carefully started petting its neck and mane, looking awed at how soft it was. Daryl watched her out of the corner of his eye as he prepared one of the other horses, making sure she wasn't getting herself into trouble or anything. He had to admit it was kind of adorable how she was getting all big eyed and smiley around the horses. Especially when she tried so hard all the time to look grown up.

Catrina turned when Daryl climbed up onto the back of his horse. She watched him in amusement as he shifted uncomfortably around on the saddle until he was at least sort of comfortable. Daryl noticed her trying not to laugh and smiled for a brief second. "I've never rode a horse before. Figured it can't be much harder than riding a motorcycle." He told her. When she burst into laughter he did smile. It made her look healthier and it was actually kind of funny how her whole body shook with her laughter. He was still smiling a bit when he got the horse to trot to her. He reached down and ruffled her hair lightly. "Stay safe, Cat. Don't get into any trouble." He told her.

"No promises." Catrina said brightly, smiling up at him. She was delighted when he let out a short laugh. When he took off she was still smiling and she watched him disappear into the tree line, off to look for Sophia. She hoped he brought the girl back. It would be nice to have a friend again and it would make everyone a lot happier. Catrina went back to the horse she'd been petting, her mind racing as she thought about how Sophia coming back to the group would change things. It was an interesting subject to her and she started up a list in her head. Eventually her mind made her wonder how everyone would treat her once Sophia got back and she started making a list of that too. She knew it was a tad selfish but she couldn't help it. She was curious and her thoughts were providing her with possible answers to her curiosity. Would Carol still talk to her? Maybe, she seemed nice enough. Would Daryl? Catrina wasn't so sure about that. What if she was just a replacement Sophia to him till he found her? Would he ignore her once Sophia was back? Catrina hoped not. She didn't want Daryl to ignore her, to not like her. Still, she wanted Sophia to come back. No little girl should be out on their own in the woods. Especially not in this world.

There was the sound of boots shuffling against the ground and Catrina quickly whirled around, her hand going to the knife in her pocket. When she saw Glenn, a guitar in hand, she relaxed. She'd thought he was a Walker. "Hey." Glenn said awkwardly when he spotted her.

"Hi Glenn." Catrina said politely. She turned away from him and started petting the horse again, not feeling up to looking the man in the eyes. All she could think about was how he and Maggie had found her unconscious on the floor in here and it bothered her.

Glenn stood at the stable entrance, not sure what he should do. He'd never felt this awkward around a child before. It made him feel pathetic. "You uh keeping the horses company?" He asked. Immediately after speaking he regretted opening his mouth. That was the lamest way to start a conversation and he'd said it to a child. Dear God. He wished he could stop but after talking to Maggie his confidence was sort of ruined and he couldn't stop thinking about finding Catrina unconscious so he felt worried. Like he shouldn't take his eyes off her just in case she passed out again. He knew she would get defensive and mad if he voiced that feeling aloud and it made him feel guilty. He didn't think she was weak exactly. He was sure that when she was healthy she was at least decently strong for her age but right now she was skin and bones so he thought she was…fragile.

"Yeah. Daryl left a little bit ago or maybe a long while ago; I haven't really been paying attention." Catrina told him. She looked out of the stable at the sky and realized she'd been in the stable for a while, long enough for the sun to get just a little bit past the center of the sky. Wow. She'd been really distracted. "Never mind. It was a long while ago." She said, giving Glenn a small smile. She didn't like awkward. It was weird and uncomfortable. So she was trying her hardest to put Glenn at ease and make this less awkward.

"They nice?" Glenn asked, nodding to the horse she was petting.

Catrina nodded, smiling brightly now. "Oh yeah definitely. They're kind of scary, I mean look at how big they are, but they're gentle." She said, giving the horse she was petting an adoring look. Horses were so cool. "Matt took me to a thing one time where they let you ride horses and stuff. I was too little to ride on my own but Matt broke a rule I think and put me in front of him while he rode one. It was really cool. I thought I was going to fall off but Matt kept me on." She told the man. A sad but fond smile appeared on her face as she remembered her cousin and how great he'd been to her.

Someone else entered the stable and the pair quickly turned to see who it was. When they saw it was Herschel they got really quite. Catrina wasn't sure why Glenn got quite but she knew why she did. So far Herschel hadn't really been the nicest guy. Well not necessarily that but he hadn't really been friendly. He didn't seem to want any of them there and it bugged Catrina. Shouldn't he be offering to let them stay forever? That's how it was supposed to work now, wasn't it? Survivors had to help each other out now, didn't they? Since there were barely any of them left.

Herschel eyed them for a moment before greeting them with a simple hello. Glenn stammered out a hi and Catrina nodded slightly but didn't say anything. Herschel watched her a moment before turning to the horses. Catrina watched him and noticed immediately that he wasn't happy with one of the horses missing. He turned on Catrina and Glenn, a look in his eyes that said he was going to tell somebody off. "Either of you know where my horse is?" He asked. He didn't sound angry but there was an undertone to his voice that suggested he was just trying to keep calm so as not to frighten them off.

"Daryl took one of them. He needed it to search for Sophia." Catrina said, a defensive look in her eyes. If Herschel got mad at Daryl she wasn't going to like him at all. They needed to find Sophia and if they needed a horse to do so then Herschel should let them borrow a horse. It wasn't like Daryl wasn't going to return it. He couldn't just steal a horse. Well…Okay maybe he could but what would he do with it? Where could he keep it where it wouldn't get munched on by Walkers? Herschel didn't look happy at all though and he started to leave. Catrina frowned but suddenly remembered one of her mama's rules on manners. "Thank you for the food yesterday, Mister Greene. And the shower. It was really nice of you." She said quickly, before the man could disappear out of the stable.

Herschel stopped a moment and stared at her. "You're welcome. Good to see you looking a bit better." He told her. And then he was gone. Off to yell at somebody. Catrina hoped it wasn't Daryl.

Catrina stared at the spot Herschel had been for a second or two before letting out a sigh. "I'm going to go…I don't know but I'm bored so I'm gonna go." She told Glenn. Before he could say anything, Catrina had taken off out of the stable.

Really, Catrina had no idea what she could do. There wasn't exactly much to do that wouldn't have the adults asking her if she was okay. She wasn't even sure if all the adults were back yet. Catrina eyed the farm house, wondering if she was allowed inside again. Maybe Carl was awake. She wouldn't mind talking to him again. He was her age after all and it was always a lot easier to talk to kids her age than it was to talk to adults. Catrina decided to risk getting in trouble and went to the house. She could hear people in the kitchen when she walked in but she managed to not alert them to her presence by shutting the door very quietly and by barely making a sound as she made her way upstairs. She knew which room was Carl's already so she immediately ducked inside it, shutting the door quietly behind her. When she turned she was pleasantly surprised to find Carl staring at her.

"Hi." Carl said, sounding a bit better than the day before. He had a hat on his head too, his dad's hat. The sheriff hat. Catrina thought the hat was cool but she thought it didn't exactly fit Carl. Maybe if they adjusted it it would but right now it was sliding off his head pretty badly.

"Hi." Catrina replied quietly. She didn't want anyone to know she was up there just in case she wasn't supposed to be in the house so she was keeping quite. She walked over to Carl's bed and sat down at the end, careful not to jostle his feet. "Do you remember me?" She asked curiously, not knowing if he'd been so bad yesterday that he couldn't remember anything.

Carl nodded slightly. "Yeah." He told her. Catrina nodded but didn't say anything. She didn't really know what to say. They didn't know each other besides the one conversation they'd had so it wasn't like she knew how to talk to him. How do you talk to a boy who's been shot and might be dying? "Have they found Sophia?" Carl asked, breaking the silence.

"Not yet but they're out looking. I'm sure they'll find her soon. I mean, Daryl is working his butt off to find her." Catrina assured him. She was completely confident that they'd find Sophia and she wanted the boy to be completely confident as well. Carl nodded slightly again before going quite. Catrina bit her lip before deciding to ask a question that had been bugging her. "Did Daryl get along with Sophia?" She asked nervously.

Carl gave her an odd look. "Not really. Daryl doesn't talk to anyone." He told her.

Catrina's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? He talks to me all the time. I'm even staying in his tent." She told him. She couldn't help but smile slightly, glad now that she thought Daryl wasn't going to ignore her once they found Sophia.

Carl seemed to be in shock. His eyes were as wide as possible and his eyebrows were as far up on his head as they could go. "No way! Daryl isn't nice to anyone!" He said though, if he thought about it, he was sort of lying. Daryl had been just a little bit less hostile to him and Sophia whenever he was around them. Still, he never thought the man would ever share his tent with anyone or talk to anyone that much. He thought the girl must be lying but telling by the shock on her own face she wasn't.

Catrina felt a smug expression appear on her face but she couldn't help it. If Carl's reaction could be trusted she was basically Daryl's favorite person. "Well I guess I'm special then." She said brightly, giving Carl a very smug grin. In response, Carl glared. Catrina just grinned a little longer before deciding to give it up. She looked around the room then back at Carl, her eyes sweeping over his bandaged torso and up to his hat. He looked worse for wear but not as bad as he could be she guessed. "Does it hurt?" She asked curiously, pointing to his chest.

"Not so much anymore. If I move too much it does but Herschel gave me stuff to take for the pain." Carl told her. His hand came to rest gently on his bandages, like he was protecting them from her gaze or something.

"Did it hurt before?" Catrina asked, edging closer so maybe she could get a better look. She looked at Carl and realized that it was actually really kind of cool that he'd survived getting shot. Like he'd gotten shot. In a world without hospitals. And lived. How cool was that?

Carl seemed to realize she thought it was cool cause he smiled. "Yeah it hurt pretty bad. They had to remove part of the bullet while I was awake." He said, sounding proud now. Catrina smiled brightly at him and had to admit he was pretty cute when he smiled. Not that she cared. Boys her age had always been pretty stupid in her opinion.

The door opened slowly but the sound of it creaking made Catrina jump. She and Carl both looked quickly at whoever was coming in, only the former relaxing when they saw it was just Beth. "I didn't know you were up here." Beth said, giving Catrina a small smile. Catrina returned it awkwardly. She liked the girl but she was waiting for Beth to yell at her for being where she shouldn't. Beth didn't do that though, just turned to Carl. "You feeling okay? Need anything?" She asked the boy.

"I'm fine." Carl told her. He didn't know the girl so he was wary around her. He had to admit though, she was pretty.

"Well okay. You yell if you need anything, your mom is in the kitchen so she'll hear you." Beth told him. Carl nodded and then Beth turned her eyes back on Catrina. The girl shifted under her gaze, completely sure that now she was going to get yelled at. "We're making dinner down in the kitchen if you'd like to help. It'll give you something to do." Beth said, sounding kind despite the fact that she was basically telling Catrina to leave Carl alone so he could rest.

Catrina had to keep the surprise off her face. Was she seriously not in trouble? Was she actually allowed in the house? The way Herschel acted she had been so sure that she wasn't. Really she thought none of the group besides Lori, Rick, and Carl were allowed in the house. "Um yeah okay." She said, getting up off the bed a bit clumsily. She walked about halfway to the door before stopping and turning back to Carl. "Um bye, I guess. Maybe we'll talk later or something." She said awkwardly, giving the boy a small smile. He nodded and smiled back slightly before they both fell into awkward silence. Then Catrina rushed out of the room, not wanting to stay in silence any longer. Beth closed the door gently behind her before taking her downstairs to the kitchen.

Lori and Carol were in the kitchen with Patricia. Catrina looked around for Andrea but couldn't find her. Catrina just shrugged at that. She was probably still out searching for Sophia or she might be on watch. Catrina looked at the food the women were comparing and wished she was old enough and strong enough to be out doing what Andrea was doing. Her mama had told her plenty of times not to be a housewife unless she wanted to be one and not to stay in the kitchen cause a man wanted her to or cause a man wasn't willing to do what men sometimes called "women's work." Catrina frowned and vowed to do what Andrea did when she was older and not be a housewife, apocalypse style.

Carol had Catrina peeling potatoes when they heard the gunshot. Immediately, everyone started running outside. Catrina dropped the half peeled potato and the peeler onto the counter and ran after them, not even managing to keep up with them even a little. She could feel fear swallowing her as she ran after the adults but she ignored it. If she admitted that gunshots terrified her now she'd probably go insane with self hate for being so weak. She wondered why there was just one gunshot. What had happened? Was someone hurt? Had they ran into a Walker? The group stopped and Herschel shouted at Andrea and Dale, trying to find out what had happened. Catrina caught up to them but found herself doubled over, her hands on her knees and supporting her so she wouldn't fall over. She was breathing really heavily and her vision was swimming slightly. Running. Not fun.

Andrea and Dale took off running. Catrina watched them though her vision was spotty. She noticed Rick and Shane dragging someone but she couldn't tell who it was from where she stood. Her fear grew rapidly as she realized the only person that person could be. Daryl. Catrina went into panic mode. No, no, no. Not Daryl. Not Daryl. Suddenly Catrina was running and she didn't even realize it. She had to know. Was it Daryl? She prayed to God it wasn't. Cause no. Not Daryl. It couldn't be Daryl. Daryl was too tough to get hurt. Too tough to die. Oh God WHAT IF HE WAS DEAD?!

Catrina skidded to a stop about a yard away from Rick and Shane, her eyes glued in horror to the bloody man between them. Daryl. Oh God no. "Is he dead? Please tell me he's not dead. Is he dead?!" She asked rapidly, her voice raising in panic.

"Just unconscious." Rick assured her, dragging Daryl past her. Catrina jogged after him, keeping at Shane's side as best she could.

"Well what happened?! Why is he all bloody?! Is he going to be okay?!" She asked frantically. She was so scared. What could possibly leave Daryl bloody and unconscious? Why was there so much blood? Oh God what if he died?!

"A bullet grazed the side of his head. He should be fine once we get him patched up." Rick told her in as calming a voice as he could manage. He was surprised to see the girl worked up so much. He didn't think he'd ever seen anyone this concerned for Daryl. He didn't think anyone had ever been this concerned for Daryl.

Catrina's eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she stopped for a moment in utter shock. "He was shot?!" She asked in stunned disbelief. There was the beginnings of anger there too which worried Rick. He made a noise that confirmed her question. Suddenly she was running back beside them looking positively enraged. "Who shot him!?" She asked furiously, glaring up at him. Dale said something but Catrina shook her head. "No, who the fuck shot him?!" She shouted.

"Catrina don't cuss." Dale reprimanded her.

"I'll cuss if I want! Who the fuck shot him?!" Catrina shouted furiously, her eyes blazing with a downright murderous light. Everyone stared at her in shock. So far the girl had been pretty docile. A bit serious with a bit of a darkish undertone but never like this. Never filled with a rage that frankly was actually kind of scary. It rivaled that of an adult's. Hell, it rivaled Daryl and Merle's.

"I did." Andrea spoke up before Catrina could continue yelling. Everyone turned to her in surprise and most of them stopped, including Catrina. The only ones who kept moving were Rick and Shane. They had to get Daryl inside immediately.

Catrina stared at Andrea in enraged shock. "You shot him?" She asked, sounding calmer at least for the moment. Andrea nodded and it was probably the worst decision she had ever made. "Why the hell would you do that?! What did he ever do to you!? What, do you just not like him? Cause you're not supposed to shoot people just cause you don't like them!" Catrina shouted at the older woman. Andrea stared down at her in shock but Catrina barely noticed. She. Was. Pissed. "Seriously, what the fuck Andrea?! Why would you shoot him?! What the fuck made you think that was a good idea?!" She shouted.

"It was an accident. I didn't know it was him." Andrea said, sounding apologetic. She looked almost like she wanted to cry.

"I don't give a fuck! Did you even think things through?! You could have attracted Walkers with that shot!" Catrina shouted. She had been surprised when Andrea said it was an accident and had felt guilty for half a second but years of arguing with Matt and other kids had taught her to have a quick rebound argument on hand. Dale reached for her, speaking words that he hoped would calm her down, but she moved away so fast it was almost like she thought his touch would burn her. "Get away from me!" She shouted at him but she wasn't even looking at him. She had drawn in on herself, looking at the ground and pulling her arms up to her chest so that her small fists rested against her collarbone. Glenn tried to reach for her but she leapt back, her arms coming out to knock his hand away. "Just get away from me!" She shouted again. Her eyes snapped up to his and she saw shock and maybe even a bit of fear in his eyes. Surprised, she looked to the others. They each wore similar expressions of shock, worry, and fear. Catrina felt pain bloom in her chest and she looked to the ground so they wouldn't notice the tears building up in her eyes. Without a word, she turned and took off towards the house at full speed. She ran past everyone, not looking at them once, and didn't even go into the house when she reached it. She ran past it, finding a spot at the back that was pretty secluded and a bit dark since it was shaded by trees. Immediately she hid there, dropping down onto her but and drawing her knees up to her chest.

For a long time Catrina sat there just trying not to pass out. She could barely breathe and her vision was even worse than before. She regretted running so much but she just couldn't stay near the adults. Not with them looking at her like that. She…She hadn't meant to blow up. But she'd been so scared and then so angry and it just…She just…She didn't even know. Tears spilled down her cheeks despite her efforts to stop them. She buried her face in her knees and tried hard not to let anyone hear her sobbing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!! Okay so I'm so sorry for not updating recently, definitely not cool of me, but I've been pretty distracted with life. Stupid life, gets in the way of writing all the time. Anyways, I hope you all like these chapters. I tried to make them long to make up for the time lapse but I'm not sure how well I did. Enjoy!


	7. Dinner and a Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter in honor of the new episode!

It took Carol shouting from the front porch to get Catrina to come out of her hiding spot. It was dark by then and apparently dinner was done if Carol could be trusted. Catrina slowly made her way to the front of the house, dragging her feet slightly. She kept her eyes firmly fixed to the ground, feeling too ashamed to bring them up to meet Carol's. Luckily Carol didn't seem to mind. She just placed a gentle hand on Catrina's back and guided her to a seat at the little table by the main dining table. Catrina could feel a lot of eyes on her but she didn't look up to see who exactly the eyes belonged to. She knew it was everyone. Carol placed a plate down in front of her and, after a few minutes, Catrina picked up her fork. She didn't take a bite or anything, just started pushing the food around with her fork. After a little while she risked looking up at everyone and realized that they were all being really awkward and not just because of Catrina. No one was talking. It was like they were all afraid of each other.

After a little while Glenn tried to start a conversation but it died pretty quickly when Otis was brought up. Catrina pushed at her food a little more. It was cramped at this little table. She'd gotten a corner more than a side and it wasn't really comfortable. It helped her to notice stuff though and she noticed immediately Maggie passing Glenn a note. She read it and frowned slightly. "Tonight. Where?" What did that mean? What were they planning on doing? Catrina read what Glenn wrote out before he could fold the paper and her eyes widened. "Ever done it in a hay loft?" She knew what that meant. Her cheeks burned red and even more so when her eyes locked with Maggie's. Maggie's cheeks went red too and they both quickly looked down at their food. A few minutes passed and Catrina was back to sulking, once again upset.

Carol noticed her not eating. "Cat, honey, why aren't you eating?" She asked gently. She didn't have to raise her voice much for Catrina to hear her, the dining room was so quite.

"Not hungry." Catrina mumbled out. She kept her eyes glued to her plate as she pushed around a few bits of food. She could feel a bunch of eyes on her again and she didn't want to accidentally meet anyone's gaze.

Carol gave the girl a pitying look. She knew that the girl had just been worried about Daryl and had lashed out at Andrea because of that so she wasn't upset with her for yelling or anything. It was actually very sad seeing her beating herself up so much. She should never be ashamed for being worried. Daryl was the first person Catrina had cared about since her family; it was perfectly natural for her to be super defensive of and worried for him. "You should eat, honey. You need to build up your strength." Carol told the girl. Catrina just shrugged slightly in reply. Carol exchanged a sad look with Lori before looking back at the girl. "Daryl wouldn't want you not eating sweetie." She said as kindly as possible. Catrina paused a moment then but she still looked incredibly reluctant to start eating. Carol frowned slightly before an idea occurred to her. "Catrina, how about if you finish your food you can go visit Daryl?" She suggested.

Catrina's eyes immediately snapped up to meet hers. "Seriously?" She questioned, looking hopeful. Carol nodded to her, giving her a smile. Catrina's face immediately brightened with her own smile before she started vigorously digging into her dinner.

Carol had already gone up to give Daryl his plate by the time Catrina finished her food. She didn't wait for the woman to come back though, thinking that Carol wouldn't mind too much if she just went on up. So she pushed her seat back quickly and took off upstairs. About halfway up the stairs she stopped running, slowing down so she wouldn't trip and fall on her face or fall down the steps. When she was almost at the top she saw the door to Daryl's room open and Carol starting to come out of the room. She smiled till Carol suddenly turned around and said "Oh, I meant to tell you. Catrina was very worried about you." The little girl froze at her name and stared curiously at the silhouette of Carol in the doorway. Very quietly, without making a sound, she made her way up a couple more steps so she could hear better. "She blew up on Andrea. Was cussing and yelling. I think you should talk to her. She was pretty scary." Carol said. And then she was coming out of Daryl's room. Catrina pretended not to have heard anything and bounded up the last couple of stairs, a smile quickly placed on her face. Carol smiled at her when he saw her. "You make sure he eats, honey. He's been through a lot today." She told the girl.

"Yes ma'am." Catrina said sweetly before ducking inside Daryl's room, closing the door behind her. Daryl was looking at her when she turned around and she smiled awkwardly at him. "Hey." He nodded to her. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, her eyes sweeping over his bandages with concern.

"Been through worse." Daryl admitted, careful to keep his tone casual. He didn't want to worry the girl.

Cautiously, as if she was afraid he'd send her away, Catrina made her way over to his bed. "So…you didn't get bit or anything?" She asked, chewing on her lip now.

"Nah. Wouldn't let a Walker get close enough to me for that." Daryl assured her.

Catrina let out a laugh. "Yes you would. If it meant killing a Walker better." She told him, smiling. Daryl let out a laugh then too, a breathy one so he wouldn't hurt his chest anymore than it already was. He looked back at the girl, smiling slightly, and found himself patting the bed beside his legs. He was surprised but he didn't regret it cause the girl's eyes lit up and she climbed up immediately, looking like she'd just won a hundred bucks. She made sure to be mindful of his ribs and legs, giving him a good inch or two of space so she wouldn't jostle him. "So what happened?" She asked, looking curious now.

Daryl pulled himself up into a sitting position, grunting with the effort it took and slightly in pain. Catrina watched him with worry but didn't say anything as he settled without any more pain. "Got knocked off that horse. Fell down a ridge. Stabbed myself with an arrow." Daryl told her, trying to downplay it as much as possible so the girl wouldn't worry much.

"Not on purpose right?" Catrina joked, giving him a teasing smile.

Daryl laughed again, surprised by the joke. Catrina grinned victoriously as he laughed, proud of herself for getting him to do so. "Nah, not on purpose. Though I've thought about doing it. When Shane's talking." Daryl told her, surprising himself by joking. Catrina let out a loud giggle that she quickly muffled with her hand, as if Shane would hear her and know she was laughing at him. Her eyes shined with laughter though as she grinned behind her hand so Daryl knew she still found the joke very amusing. Daryl smiled at her a moment before remembering what Carol had said. Then his smile dropped away. Catrina dropped her hand after a moment and smiled down at the bedspread as she fiddled with it. Daryl didn't know why he was the one who had to talk to her but he decided that he might as well. "Heard you yelled at Andrea today." He said, not sure how else to start this. Immediately Catrina froze, her smile disappearing. "Heard you were cussing. Shouting. Heard you were kind of scary." Daryl said.

"Wasn't scary." Catrina mumbled out though she wasn't sure if that was true or not. The looks the adults had been giving her had certainly said otherwise.

"Thought we told you not to cuss." Daryl said, deciding to handle the easiest part of this whole thing first. Catrina ducked her head in shame. Her eyes darted up to him once before darting back down to the comforter, as if she couldn't meet his gaze for more than a split second. "Whatcha say?" He questioned her.

Catrina squirmed a bit under his gaze. "The F word. And hell. But mostly the F word." She said quietly.

"No more of that." Daryl said firmly. Catrina nodded quickly, agreeing without a second thought. "You can say hell and maybe a few others around me but don't say them around the others." Again, she nodded. They were silent then as Daryl tried to figure out how to touch down on the other problems. Eventually he just decided to go with whatever came out of his mouth. "You yelled at Andrea." He almost smacked himself in the face. Wow Daryl. Way to state the obvious. "Why?" He said to cover up his lame statement.

"I don't know." Catrina mumbled out. She glanced up and saw Daryl giving her a look that said he really didn't believe her. She returned her eyes to the bed. "I was scared. I thought you were dead. Then she said it was her fault and I got mad. Really mad." She admitted quietly.

Daryl was surprised but didn't let it show. The girl had been scared for him? Actually scared? He didn't think anyone had been scared for him ever. "Hey Shortie." He said it in a way that told her to look at him. Slowly, warily, Catrina did. Her big green eyes met his blue ones and it actually hurt to see the fear there, like she was terrified he was going to yell at her or something. Daryl was surprised again by his reaction to her fear. He'd never felt physically hurt by someone else's fear. Apparently he was getting pretty damn attached to this kid. He didn't mean to be but the girl was sort of attached at his hip, something he hadn't noticed till now. He wasn't sure if he wanted to push her away or allow her to stay close. Hell, today Merle himself (or at least a pretty damn accurate hallucination of him) had told him that nobody but him would ever care about him. So far both Carol and this girl were proving him wrong but that didn't mean he was ready to keep them close. He wasn't sure he had a choice with this little girl though. "You were worried. Nothing wrong with that. You just need to learn to keep your temper in check." He told her in a surprisingly gentle voice.

Catrina stared at him in perplexed astonishment. He wasn't yelling at her. And he had basically said that it was alright for her to get mad at Andrea just not to handle a situation like that the way she did. She almost smiled. "I'll keep my temper in check if you promise not to get hurt again." She promised.

Daryl chuckled at her. "Deal." He said, earning a bright happy grin from her. He grabbed the plate Carol had brought up and started eating. When he noticed Catrina still sitting there, just watching him, he stopped. "You should go back downstairs. Finish your dinner." He told her.

"Carol wouldn't let me come up until I was finished." Catrina told him, giving him a slightly smug look that said he wasn't going to be getting rid of her that easily. "Besides, Carol told me to make sure you eat." She said brightly. Daryl chuckled at that and went back to eating, deciding that if the girl was so adamant about staying then he might as well let her.

About an hour or two later when Beth came up to get the plate she left the room smiling. Daryl and Catrina were asleep on the bed, the little girl curled up against the redneck with his protective arm slung around her keeping her from rolling off the bed. They looked cute and, beside each other, they looked like family. Beth thought it was adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has been reading this story. I'm glad you like it and I hope to write more chapters over Thanksgiving break.


	8. I Don't Like Guns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! I haven't gotten the chance to post for many reasons, one of which was being in a sad coma cause of the finale. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! It will feature more of Catrina's past. Not the full story but a bit. Hope you like it.

Catrina woke up the next morning feeling pretty good. She had had another nightmare that night but she pretended like she didn't remember Daryl waking up and comforting her. It would just be awkward. So she smiled brightly and talked to him about how she had always been more of an afternoon person than anything. Daryl had said he was more of a whenever he woke kind of person which made Catrina laugh. Her mood was incredibly improved from yesterday which was pretty dang clear to everyone when they saw her. Rick even risked saying hi to her when he came to help Daryl down to his tent. She'd said hi back and asked him if he was going to make Daryl go out searching later. Rick had assured her that he was going to make Daryl stay put till he was all healed up which she had praised him for, earning a laugh and a smile from the man. Daryl had shook his head at her but he'd also let out a short huff like chuckle that said he was amused.

"You promised to take me out today." Catrina pointed out when Daryl was lying down and she was sitting on the ground near him.

"I don't think I promised." Daryl said, the corner of his lips twitched up in an almost smile.

"Oh no you did." Catrina said confidently though he'd never actually used the word "promise." He'd made her a deal but he'd never really promised. Though he had said he'd take her out today. "But it's okay. You're beat up so I'm fine with staying put another day." Catrina said brightly.

Daryl shook his head a bit. "You could ask one of the others. I'm sure they'd take you." He said though he wasn't sure if the others were going to be out for long today. He didn't actually want her going out with anyone else but he wanted to see how she'd respond.

Catrina made a face at him, not liking the suggestion at all. She didn't want someone else to take her! She wanted to go out with Daryl! He was the only interesting person out of the whole group and the only one she trusted. Going out in the woods with someone else just wasn't appealing. "Nope, not gonna do that. I'm perfectly happy with waiting till you heal." She told the redneck. Daryl smiled slightly at her and nodded. Alright then, she'd go out with him.

"You know any knots?" Daryl asked after a little bit of silence.

"Shane taught me how to tie a noose." Catrina said immediately. She wasn't really sure if a noose really counted as a knot but it was the only thing she'd ever learned that involved rope.

Daryl froze for a second. That fucker had taught her how to tie a noose? What the fuck was he thinking?! Daryl gritted his teeth, his hands forming into fists. That idiot. That gigantic dick. It was like the guy wanted her to kill herself. You didn't teach a fucking little kid to tie a fucking noose. Especially not a little kid who had been on her own for a very long time and could have all sorts of stuff wrong with her. What if she decided she didn't want to live without her family anymore? Now she could just tie herself a fucking noose and jump off a chair! Slowly, taking a few deep breathes, Daryl managed to calm himself down. "Not very useful. Grab me that rope over there. I'll teach you a few things." He told the girl once he'd calmed down. Immediately, she rushed over to the rope he kept near his other stuff and brought it back. She sat down beside him again, a little closer this time, looking incredibly eager to learn anything he wanted to teach her.

Daryl was in the middle of correcting Catrina on how to tie a Timber Hitch knot when Andrea came in. The woman looked down at the little girl, her eyes searching for any sign of forgiveness, but Catrina was refusing to look at her. She'd tensed the second she saw the woman come in and pressed her lips together tightly to avoid saying what she wanted to to the woman. Andrea looked a little sad but turned to Daryl. "Hey. This is not that good but…" She handed the book in her hand over to him. Catrina peeked up at it curiously but looked away when she realized it was a boring adult book. She didn't look to Andrea though who was watching Daryl nervously.

"What? No pictures?" Daryl asked, earning a smile from Andrea and a giggle from Catrina.

"I'm so sorry. I feel like shit." Andrea said almost immediately after. Catrina frowned and glanced back at the woman angrily. She should feel like shit. She'd almost killed Daryl!

Daryl glanced down at Catrina, noticing how she glared back at Andrea, but didn't say anything. He just put the book down and resituated himself in his bed. "Yeah. You and me both." He said. He noticed Catrina look up at him with concern and let out a small grunt of annoyance. The girl shouldn't be worrying about him. He should be worrying about her.

Andrea looked down at him, the biggest look of regret on her face. "I don't expect you to forgive me, either of you." She said, looking down at Catrina at that last part. The girl didn't look back up at her though, still too angry to look at her head on. "But if there's anything I can do—."

"You were trying to protect the group. We're good." Daryl said, cutting her off. Catrina looked up at him in shock. What was he saying? The woman had shot him! How was he forgiving her?! He'd almost died! Daryl glanced over at her and there was a pointed look in his eyes that said she was to take note of what he'd said. Catrina looked away, back at the floor. She felt hurt. She looked hurt. How could Daryl care that little about himself? Didn't he realize how upset Catrina would be if he died? How lost she'd be? He was the only person in the world she trusted. If she lost him…Daryl frowned, noticing as Andrea started to leave the tears welling up in Catrina's eyes. The little girl wiped them away furiously, making an almost disgusted face at her own tears. He didn't know why she was crying exactly but he knew it bothered him. He frowned and turned back to Andrea who was walking away from the tent. "But hey." He called out, catching her attention again. Andrea turned and gave him a curious look. "Shoot me again, you'd best pray I'm dead." Daryl told her.

Andrea smiled and walked away. Daryl turned his eyes back on Catrina who was now frowning down at the rope in her hands. "I'm trying." The girl mumbled out.

"What?" Daryl asked, not understanding.

"To keep my temper in check." Catrina clarified, looking back up at him. Daryl nodded slightly, showing he understood. He didn't say anything though, recognizing that she wanted to keep talking. "I know she didn't mean to but…It scared me. I don't like being scared. And you're the only person here I trust. If she'd killed you I'd be alone again." Catrina said quietly. She fiddled with the rope in her hand, undoing the incorrect knot she'd tied a minute ago. She restarted, trying hard not to let her hands shake with how upset she was. "I like her. She's nice and she doesn't act like a housewife but she almost killed you. I can't forgive that. Just like I can't forgive Walkers or…" Catrina frowned deeply. No, she wasn't going to tell him that. "Matt would have loved you. I'm not sure about Mama or dad but Matt would have thought you were awesome. I think you're awesome. I just…You can't die, Daryl. You can't." She said firmly. She looked up at him again and gave him a stern look. "You can't die." She repeated, almost angrily.

Daryl stared down at the girl, not angry in the least. He couldn't even muster up a stern look to give her. "I'm not going to. I promise." He told her. He knew he shouldn't promise but he felt like he had to. And for a second he didn't care that he was being soft. This girl needed him, trusted him, couldn't cope without him. If he had to, he'd kill not to break this promise to her. Catrina suddenly grinned wildly at him, looking incredibly relieved. Daryl looked down at the rope in her hands and nodded to it. "Good job." He told her. Catrina looked down at the perfect knot in surprise before a wild triumphant look appeared on her face.

Daryl started teaching her again, taking the rope and showing her how to do another knot properly before undoing it and handing it back to her. She was a fast learner, messing up maybe once or twice before getting it right. She was trying to tie a Square Knot properly when Shane poked his head through the tent flap. "Hey, Daryl, we're all headed out to gun practice. Rick wanted me to ask if you wanted Catrina to learn." Shane said, barely glancing at the girl on the ground who stared up at him with a frown.

Daryl frowned up at the man. "Why you asking me? I'm not her dad." He said, a disapproving look in his eyes. He wasn't in charge of Catrina. She may be glued to his hip and he may be looking out for her but he wasn't in charge of her. The group was in charge of her which meant Rick should be the one choosing whether or not she learned how to shoot. Well, actually, no. Rick shouldn't be choosing, Catrina should. She wasn't a kid like Carl, not really. She'd been in a harsh as hell group from what they could gather and had been out on her own for more time than she ever should have been. She was mature enough to decide whether or not she learned how to shoot. "Ask her. She's in charge of herself when it comes to that sort of thing." Daryl told the man.

Shane frowned, disapproval in his own eyes, but turned to look at Catrina. Daryl felt like telling him off for looking at him like that but decided to stay quite. At least for now. "Whatchya say, kid? Want to learn how to shoot?" He asked her.

Catrina felt a ball of sick form in her stomach. "I…I know how to shoot a bow. Matt taught me. If we find one I won't have to learn how to use a gun." She said, trying not to sound frightened. She could hear the phantom sound of a gunshot echoing in her ears and she held the rope in her hands in a death grip. "My old group said kids weren't allowed to have guns, not till they were thirteen. I'm not that old yet." She added.

"Well that was your old group." Shane pointed out. Catrina looked to Daryl but he was watching Shane carefully, waiting for the man to do or say something he didn't like. "Come on kid, it's best you learn how to handle a gun in case we can't find you a bow and the only weapon you have is a gun. I'll be teaching you. It's completely safe."Shane told her. Daryl's frown deepened, yeah he didn't like what Shane had just said. He didn't think the guy who'd taught Catrina how to tie a noose needed to be teaching her how to shoot a gun.

Catrina gnawed on her lip. He had a point, she knew that, but she really didn't want to hear gunshots. She really really didn't. But…She didn't want to die either. If something happened and she needed to use a gun she'd be screwed without some sort of teaching. "I…I guess I could learn." She said hesitatingly.

"You don't have to." Daryl spoke up. Catrina looked up at him in surprise while Shane glared at him. Daryl didn't say anything to the man though, keeping his eyes focused on the little girl. "If you don't want to, you don't have to. We can find you a bow." He told her. He'd noticed pretty clearly how scared she looked at the idea of shooting a gun and if guns bothered her that bad she didn't need to be shooting them.

"Daryl, that's a slim chance. We might not find a bow for her to use." Shane said, trying to keep his voice even. Catrina looked between them nervously, sensing that they were both trying very hard to keep their tempers in check. "She needs to learn how to shoot." Shane said firmly.

"She doesn't have to." Daryl said just as firmly.

"I want to." Catrina spoke up suddenly. The two men looked to her and she ducked her head slightly under their gazes. They both looked angry. Not with her, obviously, but definitely with each other and that was enough. "Well…I don't really want to but…Sh—Shane's right. I need to know. Just in case." She said, glancing between the men every once in a while before looking at the ground. Shane looked slightly pleased while Daryl definitely didn't. That upset Catrina. He wasn't upset with her was he? Or mad? Or disappointed? She didn't want him to be upset with her.

Shane shot Daryl an almost smug look. "Alright, kid, be out here in ten." He told her. He left then, feeling like he'd won something against the other man.

Catrina didn't look up at Daryl for a minute and when she did she flinched. He looked upset. "I'm sorry. I just…I don't want to die and maybe if I don't know how to shoot a gun I'll end up dying and I don't want to die. I don't. So I want to learn how to shoot even though I really hate guns and the idea of hearing them go off and shooting one myself terrifies me." Catrina said in a rush, trying desperately to get Daryl to understand. She didn't want him to be upset with her.

"Cat, I'm not mad." Daryl said firmly. Catrina looked up at him, nervousness in her eyes. "I'm not. I just hate it when Shane gets his way." He told her, keeping his voice low for a moment so no one would accidentally hear his feelings on Shane. He didn't need the trouble that'd cause. Catrina nodded, she didn't like Shane getting his way either. It usually wasn't good. Daryl watched her carefully for a moment before deciding to give her a little piece of advice. "Just be careful out there, Cat. Keep an eye on Shane. Don't…Don't drop your guard for a second. Gunshots are going to draw Walkers and maybe people. You need to be ready in case something happens." He told her, using a careful well thought out tone. He didn't miss how she flinched at the idea of people being drawn in by the gunshots. "Catrina, I doubt anyone's going to show up. Probably just Walkers and maybe not even them. They probably picked a spot pretty far from the road." He tried to assure her.

"Yeah…Yeah okay." Catrina mumbled out. She got up slowly and placed the rope back where she'd grabbed it from. She started to head out of the tent but before she did she turned around and quickly went back to Daryl. She ducked down and hugged him before he could react, being very careful of his injuries. "Be careful Daryl." She told him, releasing him.

"You too, Shortie." Daryl told her, his tone gentle enough but still a command. Catrina smiled at him before taking off, not noticing how Daryl's brow furrowed with concern. He didn't want Shane teaching Catrina how to shoot.

Catrina jogged down to where everyone was gathered around the cars, deciding who was going to ride with whom. When she saw Carl standing by his dad her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She snuck up behind him and plucked the hat from his head. "I didn't know you were better." She said, grinning, when he turned around. Carl smiled slightly and tried to snatch his hat back but Catrina jumped back so he couldn't. "You should have come said hi or something. I've been the only kid for days! It was so boring! We could have…I don't know. Played a game or something." Catrina said as she danced away from every attempt Carl was making to grab his hat.

"You're mean. Why would I want to do anything with you?" Carl asked, smiling, as he tried to grab his hat. She was faster than him and she weighed less so she was able to keep the hat away from him pretty well.

"Cause I'm awesome and hanging out with me would make you awesome by association." Catrina said matter-of-factly. She'd heard Matt say stuff like that before so she knew she was using the words right. She ducked beneath Carl's arm and quickly hid behind Andrea who stared down at her in surprise. "Andrea! Save me from the big mean boy!" Catrina called out jokingly. She was trying very hard to forgive the woman so she was playing around with her, trying to show the woman that she really was trying. Andrea smiled down at the girl and, before Catrina could react, snatched the hat from her hands. Catrina let out a protesting, almost whining, noise but Andrea just smiled. She tossed the hat back to Carl who stuck his tongue out at Catrina. Catrina stuck her tongue out right back before huffing and making her way over to Dale. "Andrea's a traitor. I should just not talk to any of you…Except Daryl. He'd help me keep the hat." She said. The adults all smiled, knowing full well she was joking. They were all glad to see her back to her normal self instead of yelling and cussing.

"It's my hat now. I got shot so it's mine." Carl said, rather proudly really.

Catrina rolled her eyes and Dale smiled, placing an arm around her shoulders. "I wouldn't be too proud of getting shot, Carl." She said despite the fact that she thought it was incredibly cool. Seriously. He'd gotten shot and lived. "I mean, anyone can get shot." She said nonchalantly.

"Yeah but nobody wants to." Carl pointed out.

"You wanted to get shot?" Catrina questioned him, raising an eyebrow at him.

Carl's cheeks flushed red. "Well no, not really." He admitted, not looking at her now. Catrina grinned triumphantly at him and looked over at Rick, ready to go now. Rick nodded to her, smiling slightly, and started ordering people into their different vehicles. Catrina ended up in the car with Rick, Lori, and Carl. Catrina chatted with Carl during the ride. She looked eager on the outside but on the inside she was screaming. She should have listened to Daryl and not gone.

They reached what the group had decided was the shooting range in record time. Catrina felt sick. She had hoped the ride would be longer so she could calm herself down, put herself in the right mind to handle the shooting. When Rick carefully handed her a gun though she was still not ready. She didn't like how the weapon felt in her hands. She didn't like how heavy it was and how cold it made her, like it was taking every drop of warmth in her body. Rick watched her carefully, noting how fearful the girl looked of the pistol in her hand. Shane had said she was excited to shoot, had he been lying? Obviously cause when Catrina looked up at him there was a shine in her eyes like she was going to cry. "It's heavy." She commented though that was obviously not what was bothering her.

"Yeah but you'll get used to the weight." Rick told her. His tone was slightly assuring but not much, he knew she didn't need assurance with this. The weight was definitely not what was bothering her.

Catrina stared up at Rick, debating whether or not she could tell him what she was actually feeling. She'd told Daryl but Rick wasn't Daryl. But…He was the leader of the group. She wanted to trust him. "I…I don't like guns." She admitted, her cheeks flushing red with shame and embarrassment.

Rick gave her a small smile. "It's okay not to like them, Cat. No one's going to get mad at you for it." He told her, glad she'd told him what was actually bothering her. He hoped that this meant she was starting to trust him a bit more. She hadn't really showed that she did before which bothered him. She was a little kid, she needed more than one person who she could trust in this world. "Guns are not toys and you know that. Knowing how to defend yourself is important but not taking them seriously while doing that is not. You should never be careless with a gun." Rick told her firmly but kindly.

"I know…They just…The sound bothers me." Catrina said, struggling to explain to him what was wrong. He wasn't quite grasping it and she really felt like he needed to.

Rick gave her a curious look. "Why's that, sweetie?" He asked her, his voice gentle now. He had to admit, he'd always wanted a daughter. Lori had wanted a son since the very beginning of their marriage and Rick had too but he'd always thought that if they had another kid he would want it to be a girl. Catrina bit her lip. She didn't want to say. Couldn't bring herself to even if she had wanted to. It hurt too much. Rick seemed to understand this and he gently patted her cheek. "It's okay, Cat. You don't have to say anything." He comforted her. Catrina smiled at him gratefully and he smiled down at her. She was a good kid when she wasn't angry. Her smile really brightened up her face. "Do you want to sit this one out? You can always come back tomorrow. That way you'll have time to get used to the idea." Rick suggested.

Catrina looked up at him thoughtfully, seriously debating whether or not to take him up on that offer. She had a feeling she'd never be ready though and if she postponed this now she knew she'd never do it. She had to do it…Just this once. Then she could find a bow and would never have to pick up a gun again. "N-no. I want to learn today." She said, forcing herself to sound confident and sure. Rick gave her a smile and gently led her towards where the others were. Catrina had to force herself to take each step.

Shane was a good teacher, Catrina had to admit it. He showed her and Carl and everyone else the proper way to aim and all the little bits they needed to know. Catrina was fine for a bit. Then the first shot rang out. Catrina gasped at the sound, tears immediately welling up in her eyes. She squeezed the trigger without meaning to. Far away, a can fell from the fence. "Good job, kid." Shane praised her in passing, going to Carl who had missed when he fired.

"How did you get it?" Carl asked, frowning over at her jealously. Catrina didn't get why he was jealous. She hadn't even meant to fire.

"I'm just that awesome." Catrina said instead of telling the truth, trying to save face. She couldn't let Carl see how shaken up she was. She couldn't let any of them see really. If they saw then they'd ask questions, questions she knew she could never answer. Taking a deep breath she looked back at the cans aligned far away from her. She took aim and fired again. Another can fell.

Mama was screaming at her to get down. But she didn't need to. The bullets were going over her head, piercing adults and the trees around them. The guns were so loud and they kept going off every second, filling the air with their horrible sound. She wanted to scream but she was too scared to open her mouth. Her mama screamed her name.

"Catrina." Rick reached out and touched her shoulder. The girl jumped immediately and accidentally fired. She didn't hit anyone but the sound surprised her and she let out a scream as it went off in her hands. Rick took the gun from her immediately. "I don't think you need any teaching, Cat. You seem to know what you're doing." He said, starting to gently lead her back to the car.

"I don't know Rick. I think she needs a little more training." Shane said doubtfully. As far as he'd seen, the girl could just be making some lucky shots. She needed to be trained up more. They couldn't have another weak little girl in the group.

"No, she's done." Rick said firmly, giving Shane a stern look. He didn't appreciate how Shane hadn't told him Catrina didn't want to shoot. They hadn't forced Glenn, why was Catrina any different? Just because she was younger, he supposed. Younger…but not weaker. The girl was remarkably tough for someone who'd been through so much. Not that Rick really knew all that she'd been through but she'd been on her own in the woods for a while and that was enough for him. For now anyways. He was hoping that when she started to feel a bit better around them she'd tell them more about her.

Catrina sat in the car the rest of the training session, ducked down in the seat with her hands pressed firmly over her ears. Her hands didn't block out the sound of gunshot completely but it was enough to make her feel slightly better. She felt like she might be sick. There was a pain all throughout her chest and her stomach kept turning like it wanted her to throw up. She found herself hunkered down in the floorboard of the car after a minute, tears running down her face. Why couldn't she just forget everything that had happened to her? She wanted to. She wanted it to all just go away so she could go on surviving without having to worry if she'd end up panicking cause of a gunshot or cause she hadn't seen a brutal Walker death in a while or because something reminded her of…She just wished it would go away. All of it. But she knew it wouldn't. She'd have to live with the memories the rest of her life till she was murdered, bitten by a Walker, or died of something else.

Catrina wiped furiously at her eyes as the tears continued to flow. She couldn't believe how weak she was being. If she'd been like this in her old group they'd have kicked her out. The weak didn't survive in this world. That'd been one of the main things taught in her old group. Though they'd had a few other opinions that were a lot more brutal like "those who can hack it shouldn't have to shoulder the weight of those who can't" and "the weak should just die and stop wasting the resources the strong need to survive." Catrina hated those but she held the belief that the weak would die close to her heart. Cause it was true. When you were weak, you died.

Matt had died and he had only been weak for a minute or two. Catrina was so much worse than he'd been. It was just a matter of time before she died.

Lucky for her, Catrina managed to stop crying by the time the Grimes got back in the car. She was sitting in the seat when they got there, looking perfectly fine though a bit bored. It was an act of course, one she thought maybe they saw through, but none of them said anything to her about it. In fact, Carl gave her a slight glare. "How did you get so good at shooting?" He questioned her, looking jealous.

"I was taught." Catrina said, shrugging lightly. She watched Carl frown at that and wondered if he was mad at her for outshining him. He hadn't done a bad job. In fact, he'd done better than her the first time she'd tried shooting a gun. Catrina decided to tell him that. Hopefully then he'd stop sulking. "You did really well. I couldn't hit anything the first time I tried shooting." She told the boy. Carl did brighten up at that and a small smug smile appeared on his face as they started back towards the farm. Catrina tried to smile but it was hard. She didn't want to smile. She wanted to be with Daryl. She could be weak around Daryl and still live. He was strong enough for the both of them.

Catrina went to Daryl the second they were back on the farm, barely saying goodbye to the Grimes or hi to Glenn. Daryl wasn't surprised when he heard car doors shutting and Catrina appeared practically seconds later. He'd known she was going to come back immediately. Even if she hadn't looked terrified as she left he would have known. He knew that girl well enough by now to know she was going to be mother henning him the entire time he was hurt. He gave her a half smile as she entered his tent but when he got a good look at her face his smile disappeared. Her eyes were puffy and the thin layer of dirt that had been on her cheeks had been washed away in thin shaking lines. Her bottom lip was still trembling ever so slightly. Daryl immediately felt pissed. He knew she shouldn't have gone. Fuck Shane. This was his fucking fault, brainwashing the kid into thinking she had to learn how to shoot a fucking gun. Daryl felt like marching out of the tent and punching the man as hard as he could. Maybe breaking his precise face would get him to stop acting like a gigantic asshole.

"What happened Cat?" Daryl asked slowly, trying to keep his tone measured and calm. It'd do no good scaring the girl when she was like this.

Catrina rushed over to Daryl, kneeled down beside him, and buried her face in his chest. She didn't care if he was uncomfortable with it or got angry with her. She needed to be close to him. He was stronger than she could ever hope to be. He'd make sure she lived even if she was weak. And he was the only one she truly trusted. So she needed to be close. "I don't like gunshots." She told him, her voice quiet and filled with pain.

Daryl was surprised by the girl's sudden contact but he didn't shove her away. She never sought out comfort like this, not unless she was having a nightmare and that didn't even really count since she was usually still half asleep when she latched onto him. She must be pretty bad if this was how she was reacting. Carefully, he maneuvered her so that she was lying down with him on his bed. She kept her face tucked into his chest and wrapped a skinny arm tightly around his waist. Daryl wrapped a protective, hopefully comforting, arm around her and waited for the girl to stop shaking. It took a while but finally she was lying calmly against him and he no longer felt tears stain his shirt. Daryl decided then that it was okay to start questioning her then, "Cat, look at me." He ordered her. Slowly, she did as she was told. She looked a lot younger then, lost and confused as to what she should do. The look in her eyes begged instruction, to be told what to do so she could get herself together. "Why don't you like gunshots?" He questioned her.

The girl stiffened instantly. It was pretty damn clear by the new look in her eyes that she did not want to tell him. She quickly looked away, her eyes focusing on Herschel's house, the main thing she could see outside the mesh siding of Daryl's tent. "It's nothing. I was just overreacting." She told him, hoping he'd just shrug it off so she could move on.

Daryl frowned disapprovingly down at the girl. There was no way on earth he was letting her get away without telling him something. Gunshots were apparently a very big thing in her kid mind if they made her act like this. He needed to fix it. She didn't have to shoot them but she couldn't react this way every time she heard a gun go off. It wasn't safe. For her and for the rest of the group. If something happened and they needed to shoot they couldn't have her breaking down at the sound. Daryl didn't want to hurt the girl but he needed to know. For her safety. It was okay if her feelings got hurt a little if she was safe. "Don't lie to me." He said sternly, almost harsh. Catrina flinched slightly, closing her eyes. Daryl waited till she opened them again to continue. "I don't know what it is but gunshots set you off. Now you're gonna tell me why so we can work on fixing that." He told her in a firm no nonsense voice.

Catrina gnawed nervously on her lip. What was she supposed to do? She didn't want to talk about it but there was no way in hell Daryl was going to let her not talk about it and she knew that. What was she supposed to tell him? Everything? She didn't think she could manage that. Maybe…Maybe she could just tell him about Matt. He said he wanted to help her. Maybe he could if she told him. She would love to not be weak anymore and getting over how gunshots made her feel would definitely make her stronger. She opened her mouth and everything spilled out that she felt like she could say. Starting with her and Matt running away. She didn't say why and she ignored the questioning look Daryl gave her that begged her to answer. She just told him everything that happened from Matt first telling her to run faster to what happened at the end. As she spoke, her nightmare from a couple of nights ago replayed in her eyes and then continued seamlessly as she continued to talk.

Matt screamed as the dead tore away a large chunk of his arm but he reacted as he did, releasing Catrina and grabbing his gun. He pulled it out of the back of his pants, pointed it at the dead man's head, and fired. Catrina flinched when the gun went off and let out a whimper as the dead man dropped. Matt was bleeding heavily. It was spurting slightly but mostly it just ran out of his arms in deep red waves. Catrina saw his flesh in the dead man's teeth and promptly threw up. Matt's knees gave out for a second but he forced himself to straighten up before he hit the ground. "Come on, Catrina. Come on, we got to keep moving." He told her. He tried to put his gun in his other hand but his bitten arm wouldn't let him so he just put his gun back into the back of his pants and grabbed her hand with his now free hand. He started dragging her along again, tears running down his face more heavily than before.

They didn't get far. Matt was losing too much blood way too quickly and it made him weak. He collapsed suddenly onto the ground, Catrina calling out his name worriedly. He waved her concern off and forced himself to crawl up against the nearest tree. He forcibly turned himself around so that he was sitting against the tree. Catrina dropped down beside him, tears pouring from her eyes now. She was sobbing uncontrollably. This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening. Not after what they'd just went through. She couldn't lose her parents and Matt in the same day. She just couldn't.

"Trina…Catrina, listen to me." Matt said though it was clear he was struggling to speak. He was pale and looked like all he wanted to do was go to sleep. He reached up with his non bloody arm and gently cupped her cheek in his hand. Catrina let out a loud sob, he was burning up. "You got to go. You have to keep going." Her big cousin told her in a begging tone. Catrina shook her head, whispered through her sobs that she couldn't do it, but Matt just shook his head heavily. He looked so ready to pass out it wasn't funny. "No, listen, you have to. For Mama and dad. And for me. You've got to do better than we did. You've got to live." He told her. His words were starting to slur, like his tongue was too heavy and too thick to talk properly. His hand started to slip off her face but he quickly repositioned it, obviously having to force himself to do so. "Catrina, I love you. You're the little sister I always wanted. So you've got to go. You've got to keep living." He was practically begging her now. Catrina didn't want to but she nodded. She had to. For Mama and dad. For him. Matt smiled at her. He looked so weak, so tired. "That's my girl. Now go on, Trina. You…You don't want to see this." He told her.

Catrina did as she was told, softly pecking her cousin's forehead before turning and slowly walking away. She heard him pulling his gun back out as she went and she let out a whimper. He couldn't speak anymore but the gentle sounds he made urged her to go on. Catrina listened to him and kept walking. She didn't get far enough away not to hear the gunshot that ended her cousin's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope I didn't kill anyone with the wait and I hope this chapter made you all happy :) My Christmas break just started so I'll be working on this and many other projects for a while. Love ya guys! Thank you so much for reading!


	9. Talking With Daryl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured out how to do italics!

Daryl watched Catrina collapse against him when she was done talking, being mindful of his ribs even though she looked beyond broken. She was sobbing uncontrollably again and he was pretty damn sure she wasn't going to stop any time soon. He didn't mind that though. He needed time to process all that she'd just told him and her sobbing was giving him plenty of time. He had to guess they'd been running from whatever took her parents. Not Walkers. Her wording had implied people and Daryl was sure they had guns, the living always did it seemed. He thought that she'd probably need to be taught that not all gunshots were bad and that they weren't to be feared. As for what happened to her cousin…Daryl wasn't sure how to handle that. How were you supposed to disconnect something from that bad of a memory? She had idolized her cousin, getting her to believe the sound that had told her he was dead wasn't bad was going to be next to impossible. Unless…Unless he convinced her it wasn't a gun or a gunshot that had taken her cousin from her. That it was a Walker instead. Yeah…Yeah he could do that.

"Alright Shortie, listen." Daryl said after a while, when her sobs had quieted down some. She didn't say anything, just hugged onto him tighter. He was both her anchor and the thing making her cry. To her, it was weird, but she barely computed it as she felt the overwhelming need to just be with someone who made her feel safe. "Gunshots…they aren't bad." Catrina let out a whimpering protest but Daryl shushed her. "No, they're not. Gunshots aren't always a bad thing, Cat. If they're coming from one of us, they're what's probably saving ya. And even if it's from someone else…Ya don't need to fear them. They're a warning, a useful one." Daryl wasn't sure if this was helping. In fact, he was pretty sure it wasn't. But he needed to try, didn't he? God, this was hard. He didn't know how to talk to people, especially not damaged people. Little kids were easy to handle but…not ones that made you care without you noticing and needed more help than you knew how to give. "And…You shouldn't think of your cousin when you hear a gunshot or see a gun. Those things didn't take Matt from you. A Walker did. Walkers took everyone. You shouldn't fear them though. Being afraid of them will just get you killed. Be…Be wary. Be cautious. But don't fear them." Daryl had to force himself not to groan or run a hand over his face in frustration. He wasn't helping at all.

Catrina listened to Daryl carefully, picking apart each word as he spoke. She wanted to learn from him so she listened but…she wasn't entirely sure he knew what he was trying to say. She got it though. She wanted to get it so she got it. Sort of. He wanted her to know that she shouldn't be afraid of gunshots or guns but be cautious of them. He wanted her to understand that it was a Walker that had killed her cousin, not a gun or a sound. The latter point was easy to accept, surprisingly. It just made sense. Sure the gunshot had told her Matt was dead but…Matt was going to die anyways. The bullet just sped things up. And that was a Walker's fault. Still…Not thinking of Matt every time she heard a gunshot was going to be next to impossible. Maybe she could figure a way out to still be reminded but not affected by it. Maybe. She wasn't actually too confident with herself at the moment. As for just being cautious of gunshots and guns…she didn't think she'd manage that. Maybe she could not be afraid of guns themselves but gunshots? She was pretty sure she was never going to be able to hear a gunshot without being afraid. But maybe the fear could be useful. Maybe she could work with it.

"I…I think I get it." Catrina cautiously said after a minute of silence, during which Daryl silently cursed himself for not being more useful.

 _"_ _Thank God cause I don't."_ Daryl thought to himself. Catrina repositioned herself so that her head was resting on his bicep and so that she was lying on her back. Her hands were held up slightly and Daryl looked down to see what she was doing. He watched as she took a string she'd plucked from his blanket and wrapped it around the tips of her fingers. "You good then?" He asked her as she unwrapped the thread and began twining it between her fingers. Catrina nodded as she watched her fingers play with the string. She started tying it up into one of the knots Daryl had taught her, wondering if she could manage it off of the thick rope Daryl had had her practicing with. "Good. I'm not used to this sort of thing." Daryl grumbled out.

Catrina didn't know what exactly he meant by that. What sort of thing did he mean? Acting fatherly? Or brotherly? Or just plain comforting? It didn't really matter. Catrina knew he had poor social skills, it was clear in everything he did. The fact that he was trying meant a lot to her though. It also made her feel pretty great cause she knew he didn't try like this for just anyone. She turned and beamed up at him. "I know. But you're pretty dang good at it." She told him cheerfully.

Daryl watched her for a moment before letting out a huff and smiling slightly. Catrina looked down at her finished knot before holding it up for Daryl to see. He looked at it and raised an eyebrow at her, what did she want him to do with it? Catrina pushed it forward just a little more, a gesture for him to take it. He did laugh then and Catrina grinned wildly as he took the knot, a smile on his face.

Daryl kept the knot. Catrina noticed that as he made her move back onto the floor and started teaching her things again. He put it in his vest pocket, a definite safe place since Daryl very rarely didn't wear his vest. Catrina sat enraptured by his lessons as he told her the steps on how to skin animals and the proper technique on how to shoot a crossbow, promising to teach her with the actual items when he was all healed up. "Listen Shortie, that's enough for today. I'm gonna take a nap." Daryl finally said, feeling too tired to continue with the lessons. He couldn't believe he was actually teaching her all this stuff but he found he didn't mind it. He liked teaching her. She listened attentively and she took instruction well. When she didn't get it right she didn't declare it stupid and stop, she kept trying. It was surprisingly nice. Daryl wondered, if they lived long enough, how she'd take to learning how to drive. Maybe if she was good enough…Nah, Merle would kill him if he let a little girl drive his motorcycle. Daryl shook his head, he needed to stop. They might not even live long enough to see next week, planning ahead made no sense.

Catrina looked disappointed for a second but she perked up again in a second. "Okay, that's fine. Carl's out of bed, I can go annoy him." She said, smiling wickedly. She actually felt super excited at the prospect of playing around with Carl. He was the first kid her age she'd seen in a while and she thought he was pretty fun already. Hanging out with him would probably be great. At the very least it'd be interesting.

Daryl chuckled as he carefully positioned himself to go to sleep. He hadn't really thought about how Catrina and Carl would react to each other till that morning when he heard Carl was out of bed. He knew the girl had been in Carl's room at least once but he wasn't sure if they ever actually talked. Not till he heard her talk to him when she left his tent earlier. They seemed to get along pretty well. Daryl wasn't surprised. Catrina had managed to get everyone else to like her so why would Carl be an exception? He was closer to her age after all, it should be even easier for them to get along and apparently it was. "He messes with ya, give him hell." Daryl finally instructed the girl, surprising himself with how playful he sounded. God, this kid was going to be the death of him. Couple of months ago he'd be glaring out the side of his tent right about now, mentally cursing up a storm over being injured, but because of this kid he was making jokes and smiling instead. It was weird. But, if he was being honest with himself, he didn't dislike it.

Catrina laughed as she picked herself up off the ground. "Sir yes sir!" She joked, giving him a mock salute. He rolled his eyes at her but Catrina just grinned like she'd won a thousand dollars. She waved slightly as she took off out of the tent, already shouting for Carl. Daryl just shook his head, the girl was crazy. Carl certainly seemed to think so when she suddenly half tackled him while his back was turned. She was mindful of his injury but she hung onto him like a monkey, laughing when he lost his balance. He glared at her but couldn't help laughing too when she gave him a grin and released him. "You and me, Carl Grimes, are going to play a game." She told him confidentially, as if she thought there was no way he would say no to her. Which there  _was_  no way he would say no to her.

"Okay. What game?" Carl asked curiously. There was a smile on his face as he asked the question. He had to admit, he liked Catrina. He'd only talked to her twice before today but he already liked her. She was a lot braver than Sophia. A lot louder too but that was okay. Not that he liked Sophia any less now, it was just a nice change. He was still going to find Sophia. He was dead set on it.

"Well, we can't hurt your ribs and I'm still weak from no food forever so tag's out…We could play hide and seek. Or red light green light!" Catrina mused, an almost maniac twinkle in her eyes. It'd been so long since she'd played. It made her feel a little wild, finally getting to act like a kid again. If she thought about it, it was sort of funny. Learning how to survive made her feel normal but acting like how a kid was supposed to made her feel savage. So weird.

Luckily for the kids, neither of them absolutely had to do anything that day. For the rest of the day they played around like normal kids, turning everything into a competition. Even coloring which they ended up doing when Lori insisted they cool down for a little bit after lunch which both of them had rushed through in order to go back to playing. The group watched the kids throughout the day while they went about doing chores and the like, amused smiles appearing on everyone's faces. They were all pretty glad the two kids were getting along. They both needed a good distraction from the world around them and they provided that for each other. Even when they were too worn out to keep running around they still distracted each other. They didn't even notice how tense a great number of the group was at dinner. They were too busy arguing about comics.

"Okay, no, DC is not better than Marvel." Catrina said firmly. She dug her spoon around in the weird stew stuff they were eating and picked out a large piece of SPAM. She had to admit, it wasn't the worst stuff in the world. She ate it with gusto. She'd been eating like that all day really, shoveling down as much food as her stomach could handle. It felt good, feeling like she was going to burst from eating so much.

"No way! DC has the Joker!" Carl protested. He looked to his dad with an expression that roughly translated to "can you believe her?" His dad smiled at him and Carl completely missed how unhappy his dad looked then, too caught up in his argument with Catrina to pay any attention to other things.

"Marvel has Loki." Catrina responded, smirking slightly. Loki trumped Joker easily. He was a freaking god after all.

Carl shook his head at that. "Loki is  _not_  better than the Joker." He said, just as firm on his point as Catrina was on hers.

"Yes, he is. Just like Batman is better than Superman." Catrina smirked slightly as she said that, knowing full well she'd just hit a nerve that would spark a very interesting debate.

"HE IS NOT!"

A few hours later Catrina sleepily stumbled into Daryl's tent, a content smile on her face. She was all argued out and completely exhausted. She felt great though, like that morning with the guns hadn't even happened. In her sleepy happy mind she could very well believe that it hadn't. God, she loved today. Catrina liked being treated like she could take care of herself, like she was older than she was, but she had to admit that she'd missed being a kid. Daryl let her crawl in beside him without a word, just wrapping an arm around her so she wouldn't roll away onto the floor or something similar. She nuzzled against him and let out a peaceful little sigh as warmth stole over her. For once, she really couldn't wait for tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Merry Christmas everyone! This was my gift to you! Or Happy Holidays, if you don't celebrate Christmas. Love ya guys! Thanks for reading!


	10. Walkers in the Barn

Shockingly, Catrina didn't have a nightmare that night. She woke up feeling absolutely fantastic. Light but not in a weak, dizzy, about to pass out kind of way. More like light in a "I've been laughing for a good hour and am completely content" kind of way. Daryl noticed as she bounced about the tent the next morning, a serene little smile on her face. He was surprised but he was also pretty glad to see her so happy after the shooting lessons the day before. She practically dragged him from their tent and out to breakfast, plopping him down I a chair before moving to help Carol with the breakfast. Daryl watched her, his eyebrows raised. She must be in a seriously good mood to be helping with the cooking. Huh. Maybe Daryl should be worrying about how well her and Carl got along…Daryl shook his head. Jesus Christ, what was wrong with him? It wasn't like he was her dad or brother or anything. He shouldn't even be so concerned about her. He should be more concerned about Merle. That's what he kept telling himself as he watched Catrina happily chat to Carol who was doing most of the cooking while the girl prattled on. It didn't sound like the truth the first time he thought it and that didn't change even the slightest as he repeated it.

Not surprisingly, Daryl gave up that thought the second Catrina brought a plate over to him. Everyone was out by now and in their groups, eating what they'd been given with a sleepy gusto. "You poison it?" Daryl asked as he accepted the plate from her.

"No!" Catrina sounded offended but the grin on her face said she thought it was funny. "Though I could do that to your next meal if you really wanted." She added jokingly before running back over to Carol to get her own plate. Daryl let out a quiet laugh and shook his head, the kid was weird.

Not surprisingly, Catrina plopped down beside Daryl when she got her food. She sat on the ground beside his feet, leaning slightly against his leg, and looking the perfect part of an adorable guard puppy. Carol watched her out of the corner of her eye, finding it adorable. Daryl's words from a couple days before came back as she watched the girl.  _"She's gonna get along with Sophia."_ Carol…Carol wasn't sure if that was true anymore. Not that Catrina wouldn't get along with Sophia. Catrina would definitely be able to instill confidence into her baby girl and teach her how to be brave. No, Carol didn't think she believed that Catrina would ever get to meet Sophia. She was starting to believe that…that maybe her daughter was dead. Carol quickly turned back to the food she was still cooking, needing a distraction from the awful path her thoughts had turned down.

"Um guys?" Catrina looked up from her food to see Glenn standing at the front of the group looking nervous. She glanced back at Daryl, her expression asking what was going on, but he didn't know. He shrugged then nodded for her to pay attention to Glenn. She did as instructed, focusing her big green eyes on the Korean. "So…" Glenn looked like he was having trouble speaking. Catrina almost smiled. Nervous people were funny. "The barn's full of Walkers." The whole camp froze. Every. Single. One. Like they just couldn't believe it. Which Catrina knew she couldn't. Walkers. In the barn. There was…Well okay maybe it was possible. They weren't allowed near the barn after all, Herschel always steering them away from it. He could definitely be keeping them there. But no. This couldn't be happening. Why would the Greenes have Walkers in their barn? Catrina put down her plate, suddenly not hungry at all.

The adults started moving the second the shock had worn off. Catrina scrambled after Daryl, not wanting to be left alone. Not with the Walkers in the barn. She didn't even care that they were going closer to the Walkers. If Daryl was with her she'd be safe no matter what distance she was from them. If she was alone…Well, there was no way she was going for a gun. Daryl couldn't move as fast as the other adults so she caught up to him easily when she started after them. He looked down at her and there was something in his eyes that made Catrina frown on confusion. He looked worried. But not about the Walkers in the barn. Which yes he was but Daryl was definitely more concerned about Catrina. What if the Walkers got out? What if one of them got to her? She wouldn't have a gun on her to protect herself, she was too little to reach their heads and stab them, she didn't even have a bow. If one came at her she would die. Daryl didn't think he could handle that. He couldn't handle losing the little girl who had forcibly pushed herself into his life and burrowed beneath his skin.

They reached the barn quickly, none of them slowing down even a little. Shane was at the head of the group with Rick and he gestured for everyone to stay put as they got closer to the barn. Everyone stopped obediently and watched as he approached the barn door. Catrina hid behind Daryl when Shane suddenly stormed back to the group, looking beyond pissed. "You cannot tell me that you're alright with this." Shane practically snarled at Rick.

"No I'm not." Rick snapped back immediately. Catrina frowned slightly at the fact that Rick had to defend himself against Shane so quickly and harshly. "But we're guests here. This isn't our land." Rick continued on.

"Oh God, this is our lives man!" Shane protested loudly, obviously not liking Rick's answer at all. Catrina flinched slightly. He was loud. Too loud. The Walkers would hear him if he kept up like that.

Glenn seemed to think so too. "Lower your voice!" He snapped in a hushed voice. His voice was at a much better volume for how close they were to the barn.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea said, her arms crossed over her chest and a mean look on her face. Catrina frowned at her. No one was saying they should ignore this.  _Rick_  wasn't saying that. He was just reminding them that this wasn't their home. The group had shown up with a dying boy and a missing girl and the Greenes had let them stay. They didn't get a say so on the Walkers being kept in the barn. Though Catrina wished they did. She'd suggest they kill every last one in there.

"It ain't right. Not remotely." Shane said, shaking his head. He'd taken his hat off and was pacing around, looking like an aggravated dog or something similar. He looked back at the barn for a second before starting back over to the group. "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right, or we've just got to go. Now we have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time now." Shane started, obviously about to go into a big speech about how Fort Benning would be their better option.

"We can't go." Rick interrupted him, his voice harsh and angry.

Catrina glanced up at Daryl, startled by Rick's anger, but Daryl didn't notice. He was too focused on the group, on the argument going on. Catrina watched him nod his agreement at Rick's words just as Shane let out an angry "Why, Rick? Why?" Catrina glared at Shane then. Had he completely forgotten about Sophia lost out there in the woods? They couldn't leave her out there!

Carol stepped forward to answer before Rick could. "Because my daughter's still out there." She told him. She sounded a bit angry but not as much as she could have. Not as much as she should have. Catrina frowned slightly at that. If someone she cared about was missing in the woods, if Matt was still alive and out there on his own, she'd be snarling at anyone who dared to suggest leaving him.

"Okay." Shane said and then he laughed. He  _laughed_! Catrina clenched her fists tightly and dug them into her thighs, trying very hard not to snap at the man or just go over there and punch him. She wasn't very big and she wasn't at full strength yet but she could still punch him. She still wanted to punch him. Shane placed his hands over his mouth and took a few deep breaths, like he was trying to calm himself. When he took them off he bounced right back into the conversation. "I think it's time we all just start to consider the other possibility." Shane began.

Rick started forward, saying Shane's name, but before he could get any farther Catrina interrupted him. She just couldn't keep quiet anymore. "Sophia isn't dead!" She said furiously, fire in her eyes. Shane looked over at her and, seriously, if looks could kill they'd both be dead. He was glaring just as bad as she was.

"Just cause you managed out there doesn't mean—." Shane started, his voice low and furious.

Daryl wasn't having any of it anymore. He surged forward, going around Carol and gently pushing Catrina back as he did. "I'm close to finding this girl! I just found her damn doll two days ago!" He shouted at Shane, his face pulled in the angriest expression Catrina had ever seen on his face. It scared her. Daryl's anger scared her. Even if it wasn't focused on her. She didn't like him being so upset, she really didn't. So she ran over to Carol and clung to her side. Carol's arm wrapped around the girl subconsciously and Catrina pretended not to see the tears in her eyes.

Shane laughed. Shane laughed  _again_. "You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did, you found her  _doll_." He said, as if it didn't mean anything. But it meant something! Catrina thought so anyways. Sophia wouldn't have just ditched the doll if it was hers so she had to be near where it was dropped!...Right?

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Daryl raged, getting closer to Shane. Rick was putting an arm out between them in seconds, trying to calm them down. But it didn't work. Daryl and Shane had been tiptoeing around each other with their anger for too long. Now that they had the chance to snarl at each other they were going to take it and rip each other's throats out.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said!" Shane shouted back at Daryl. Catrina shook her head. No.  _No_. "You get a good lead, it's in the first forty eight hours." Rick tried to get him to shut up but he couldn't. Shane was on a roll. And he started in on Daryl like it was his favorite thing to do. "Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction!" Shane shouted. Catrina didn't know what "methed out" meant but she knew that everything Shane had just said was an insult. A bad one. And Daryl reacted badly. Very, very,  _very_  badly.

Catrina let out a surprised scream as Daryl suddenly threw himself at Shane, trying to hit him. Carol hugged her close and dragged her back a step, trying to get her away from the violence. Rick threw himself between Shane and Daryl, shoving them apart and keeping Daryl from slamming his fist into Shane's face. Both men fought against Rick though. Lori and Glenn stepped forward, getting between the fight and shoving Shane back. Carol rushed forward, releasing Catrina as she did. She and Andrea went and grabbed Daryl, pulling him back. One thing that Shane shouted really stuck with Catrina and made her pale. "I'll beat your ass if you come at me again!" No. Shane wouldn't,  _couldn't_ , be allowed to hurt Daryl. She wouldn't let it happen.

"Get your hands off me." Shane snapped at Lori, pointing a warning finger at him. It looked like the fight was done. The group had separated him and Daryl and were ready to step up and stop them again if they had to. There was no chance of either man throwing a punch. Shane even started walking away, back towards camp.

"Now just let me talk to Herschel. Let me figure it out." Rick said, more calmly than before when he'd been shouting.

"What are you gonna figure out!?" Shane suddenly snapped again, rushing back to Rick like he was going to hit him. Catrina stumbled back in fear. She hadn't seen someone this angry since her last group. Her last leader. He'd been crazy. She'd known he was crazy. He would get angry so quickly and half the time it was over little things. He'd been terrifying. And Shane reminded her of him. But maybe a bit worse. Her last leader had never yelled at kids. Shane looked like he was willing to kill a kid if it meant getting what he wanted. Catrina tripped as she stumbled back. She landed flat on her butt and let out a groan but no one noticed. No one but Carl. He came running around the adults as Lori got between Shane and Rick, shouting for Shane to stop.

Carl dropped down beside Catrina and looked over her worriedly as Rick argued with Shane. Catrina shook her head but she wasn't sure if she was telling him she was okay or if she was silently begging for the arguing to stop. She really wanted it to stop. "If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land." Rick told his once partner.

"Herschel," Dale made his voice purposely louder than it needed to be to focus attention on him, "sees those things in there as people." The group looked at him. Rick gave him a disbelieving look. "Sick people. His wife. His stepson." Dale continued.

"You knew?" Rick asked in disbelief.

Dale nodded slightly. "Yesterday I talked to Herschel." He said, not seeming even a little bit remorseful over having kept the information a secret for this long. Shane angrily pointed out that Dale had kept it secret and Dale was quick to defend himself. "I thought we could survive one more night. We  _did_." The older man said, giving Shane a look that said he wasn't going to take any of his crap. "I was waiting till this morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one." He told them.

"The man is crazy, Rick." Shane snapped yet again. He turned and walked back to Rick, his whole body just giving off an intensely angry vibe. "If Herschel thinks those things are alive or," Rick tried to interrupt him, "no!" Shane shouted back furiously.

The Walkers seemed to have finally heard the shouting. They slammed against the barn doors, snarling and clawing at the wood as they tried to get out. The chains rattled and the wood creaked. Catrina let out a terrified scream of surprise and grabbed onto Carl who pulled her to her feet in a second. They both scrambled back quickly, pulling at each other and trying to place their own bodies in front of each other protectively. They ended up with their sides pressed together holding onto random parts of each other's shirts which they pulled on in their fear. Lori came running over and placed herself in front of them. As if she'd be any help. "Get back. Get back." Lori mumbled to them, trying to push them farther away. Catrina wasn't having it though. Daryl was still near the barn. He could get hurt. She pulled away from Carl, ignoring his protests, and ran past Lori, also ignoring her when she told her to come back. She ran past everyone and flung herself at Daryl, wrapping her arms around his. She started pulling on him, begging him in a quiet desperate voice to  _get away from the barn_. Daryl listened, allowing her to drag him back.

"Alright. Alright. Everyone just head back to the camp, okay? Let's just…Let's get away from the barn." Rick said after a minute, ushering them all away. They listened to him immediately. Everyone except Shane. Catrina noticed Rick glance back at Shane but he didn't say anything. He just looked angry. She decided not to even think about it. Shane was…Shane could do whatever he wanted. She didn't care. Just so long as he didn't hurt anyone she cared about and stayed as far from her as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I have a terrible perception of time and spaced out on when my next scheduled update was. Love you all! Also, going to die in two weeks cause of the fifth season's finale!


	11. Enough

Catrina sat down beneath the tree she'd cried under when Daryl got shot, her arms wrapped around her legs and her head ducked down slightly. Her eyes were focused on a patch of grass about a foot away from her. She didn't exactly know what she was doing. Daryl had told her to take a moment to calm down when they'd gotten back to camp and that's exactly why she'd come to the tree. But she wasn't exactly calm. She couldn't stop thinking about the Walkers in the barn and Sophia and how everything was falling apart. Sophia was alive. She had to be alive. So why would Shane say such awful things? And Daryl. Daryl had gotten so angry. He'd tried to hit Shane. And Shane had looked like he was going to kill something and the Walkers had tried to get them and when Sophia came back she'd be coming back to this completely unsafe—! Catrina buried her face in her knees. She needed to stop thinking. That's what she needed to do. She needed to stop thinking so that she wouldn't freak out and panic. But how…how was she supposed to just stop? It wasn't like she could go do anything.

Familiar feet appeared in Catrina's line of sight. She looked up to see Daryl standing above her, a determined look on his face. "I'm going to go look for Sophia. If you're up to it, you can come along." He told her, not even a hint of a lie in his voice.

Catrina was up in a second. "You sure?" She asked before she could think. She couldn't help it though. Daryl had been so hesitant about taking her along. What if they got out there and he decided it was a bad idea? Daryl didn't say anything, just nodded. He gestured for her to follow and she did without question. She was a little bothered by the silence but she figured this it was just something Daryl did after he'd been really angry, went stone cold silent. She had to admit though, it was a little unnerving. It actually scared her more than him yelling earlier cause it felt like a mask. Like something Daryl had thrown on over still intense anger. He could probably blow up again at any moment. Catrina had to force herself not to react to that thought and simply sped up a little to keep pace with Daryl.

Catrina was surprised when Daryl led her to the stables but when she saw him wince slightly as he walked she wasn't. He was still injured; walking around in the woods for a long time would probably make his side worse. Which worried Catrina deeply. He dropped her off inside the stable, telling her to stay put while he grabbed a saddle, and she watched him go with worry in her eyes. He was still injured. He could hurt himself. But…But they had to find Sophia, right? And no one else was out looking for her right then so they had to go, right? Daryl would be fine staying on the horse. He wouldn't get hurt any further. So it'd be okay if he went. Just so long as he stayed on the horse. And three people could fit on a horse, definitely. Cause they were going to find Sophia. They had to find Sophia.

Daryl came walking back in, looking worn already as he carried the saddle. Catrina rushed forward to help him but he shook his head at her, making her retreat back. She glanced over at Carol who was approaching before Daryl's huff of pain as he hauled the saddle up onto a stand made her eyes snap back to him. "You can't." Carol said immediately, walking faster now into the stable. Catrina couldn't help but think she was right. Daryl was huffing in pain, leaning heavily against the saddle. He looked…He looked weak.

"I'm fine." Daryl protested, moving away from the saddle and towards one of the horses. Catrina retreated back, out of his way, and pressed herself against the adjoining stall.

"Herschel said you need to heal." Carol said, her voice filled with concern. And a plea. A plea for Daryl to please just stop this now.

"Yeah, I don't care." Daryl said, not looking at her. Or Catrina. So he didn't notice how Catrina's eyes snapped away from Carol to glare at him, anger burning inside them. He didn't care? He didn't care about getting hurt? About possibly dying? About himself? Catrina wasn't really sure which one he was referring to but any of those was bad. All of them were bad. How could he not  _care_? How could he even say that with her there?! She'd told him before; he was not allowed to die! He'd promised that he wouldn't! How could he  _not care_!?

"Well I do. And so does Catrina." Carol said softly. Daryl paused for about half a second before continuing putting the bridle on the horse. He knew Catrina cared and he knew she was probably worried about him right then, probably angry too (he'd realized how stupid saying "I don't care" in front of her was the second it'd come out), but it'd be fine. She'd be right there with him out there. She could keep her worried little eyes on him and then she wouldn't have to sit around wondering if he was going to be okay. "Rick's going out later to follow the trail." Carol pressed on. Catrina sighed slightly with relief. Good. It wasn't just Daryl looking anymore.

"Yeah. Well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing." Daryl told her. He'd never been good at that, just sitting by. He'd managed it plenty of times before but this…This time he wasn't going to just sit by and let stuff happen. He wasn't going to sit by and let that girl be missing another day. He'd already sworn to find her but now he swore to prove Shane wrong. He was going to find Sophia. She  _wasn't_ dead.

Carol didn't even wait a second to reply. "No, you're gonna go out there and get yourself hurt even worse." She told him. She knew that's what he'd do. He wouldn't come back till he found Sophia and he'd hurt himself doing so. She needed to stop him. She needed to get him to see he couldn't go. "Or you're going to get Catrina hurt." She said, making him stop instantly. "If something happens, you know she won't run away. She'll stay and try to help you. And if you get surrounded, you won't be able to fight your way out or protect her as well as you normally could. Something could happen." She told him. She knew she was hitting a nerve and driving the knife deep but she had to make him stop this.

Daryl turned and glared at her but it was Catrina who spoke. "Nothing like that's going to happen." She said firmly, pushing herself off the stall. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at Carol when the woman turned her eyes to her. "I can fight for myself. I've got a knife, I can kill. Daryl doesn't have to be at his best with me there cause I can help." She said confidently. She wasn't exactly a big fan of Daryl going out there anymore but she wasn't about to let Carol use her as an excuse. She could keep Daryl safe and he could keep her safe. Neither of them had to be at their best because they could pick up each other's slack. She was sure of it. Carol needed to find another excuse because Catrina was not it.

Daryl smirked slightly. That was his girl. "See? We'll be fine." He told the woman before turning back to the horse.

Carol bit her lip. She hadn't wanted to do this. She hadn't wanted to really hurt him but she had to. It was the only way to get him to see. "We don't know if we're gonna find her Daryl. We don't." She said, her voice firmer than before. Catrina felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Her arms fell to her sides and she took a step back, staring up at Carol in horror as she did. How could Carol say something like that? How could she be giving up on her own daughter?! Daryl turned and looked at her, not believing what he was hearing. He glared too cause what the hell was this woman saying? How could she be saying that? "I don't." Carol practically whispered.

Daryl pushed away from the horse, from the stall, approaching Carol with a look on his face that said he was mad. And that he wasn't sure if Carol even knew what she was saying. How could she even think they weren't going to find her daughter? "What?" He asked her and Catrina flinched. Not cause he said it harshly but because he sounded so disbelieving. She knew Carol meant it, she knew it even if she didn't like it, but Daryl couldn't seem to grasp that.

"I can't lose you too." Carol said, tears in her eyes. Then she turned to Catrina and the girl looked downright horrified. "Either of you." Catrina shook her head. No. No, this couldn't be happening. Carol couldn't care about her and Daryl more than Sophia. She  _especially_  couldn't care about Catrina more. She couldn't care about another little girl more than her own daughter.

Catrina did the first thing she could think of. She turned. And she ran. She couldn't stay in the stable. She couldn't stay near Carol. She couldn't. She couldn't stand there and be a substitute for Sophia. That's what she felt like this was. She felt like maybe her presence had helped Carol come to the conclusion that Sophia was dead cause she was some sort of replacement. It was wrong. It was so wrong. She didn't want to be a replacement. She didn't want to be the little girl Carol decided could fill her daughter's role so it was okay to leave her. She couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it.

She ran for a while. Catrina knew she had because her body started doing the stuff it had days and days ago when she'd first tried running. Her lungs screamed, she got dizzy, and she thought she was dying. Her legs gave out suddenly and she crashed to the ground, ending up with a face full of dirt. It hurt. Jesus Christ it hurt. She forced herself to roll over and, when she did, she heard Carl shout her name. She thought she might have groaned in response but she wasn't sure. Her head was swimming. She didn't feel good. Carl dropped down beside her, his hands coming out and placing themselves on her cheeks. "Cat? Cat?! What do you need? What do I need to get you? I can get dad or…" Carl stopped talking when he noticed Catrina's mouth struggling to form words. She really did not feel good. With everything going on and her body just giving up on her. There were Walkers in the barn, Carol didn't think they'd find Sophia, Shane was insane, she couldn't run without almost dying. It hurt. Everything hurt. And she wanted to cry but she didn't have the energy to cry. She tried to answer Carl's question, to tell him she needed water, but she couldn't get sounds out of her mouth. And then she needed to throw up. She needed to throw up bad. She used what little energy she had to turn herself on her side, dislodging Carl's hands, and throw up. Carl groaned in disgust but he didn't back up. He stayed by her, his hands now resting on her side.

Carl hated seeing Catrina like this. She looked weak. Like she was dying and he really didn't like it. Catrina wasn't weak. Sophia…Sophia was but Catrina wasn't. She wasn't. And he couldn't stand seeing her look like she was. Her throwing up worried him too. She was so skinny; she needed to be keeping the food in. He saw tears burst out of her eyes as she threw up and he didn't know what to do. What had his mom always done for him when he threw up? Rubbed his back and comforted him. It felt awkward but he did what she had, placed his hand on Catrina's back between her shoulder blades and started rubbing circles there. He told her quietly that it was okay and she was going to be okay and that she should probably get it all out cause if she didn't it would just happen again later. He also added without thinking that if she threw up in front of the adults it'd be a lot more embarrassing than throwing up in front of him. She actually laughed at that and she rolled over onto her back, dislodging his hands once again. He placed his hands in his lap and smiled at her before noticing how lifeless she looked now. And the bit of throw up on her face which was really gross. He told her he'd be right back and when he came back he had a washcloth and a bottle of water in his hands.

Catrina tried to make a protesting noise as Carl wiped her face clean of vomit and dirt but he told her to shut up. Not unkindly just as something she needed to do. She felt better after throwing up but she didn't have the energy to roll her eyes so she just closed them. Carl slapped her cheek sharply though and they instantly flew back open to glare at him. "Sorry. But I don't think you're supposed to close your eyes. Cause you might fall asleep and…well I'm not really sure. Just don't go to sleep." Carl told her as he maneuvered around so that he was behind her head. Catrina felt him lift her head up and place it on his lap. He leaned over her and she gave him a look that asked what on earth he thought he was doing. "It's easier to give you water this way." Carl said, shrugging as he opened the bottle in his hand.

Catrina let Carl pour water into her mouth a little at a time, not really caring how weak it made her look. She didn't feel good and Carl was making her feel better so she was cool with it. He eventually ran out of water and for a while they stayed still, Catrina getting back to normal and Carl watching her intently to make sure she was okay. Eventually she felt good enough to sit up. Carl helped her a bit but she managed to do it mostly on her own. Which she was very proud about. It was kind of great, knowing she could come back so quick from being sick. She had to be getting better if she could rebound like this.

"Want to talk about it?" Carl asked uncertainly. Catrina shook her head and Carl gave her a disapproving look. "So you just expect me to believe you were running for no reason?" He asked her.

"Yes, I do." Catrina told him, her voice a little weak. She cleared her throat a bit to make it better. "Just…Trust me on this okay? You don't want to know." She told him. He really didn't. She knew how much finding Sophia meant to him, even if he didn't say anything about it to her, so hearing that Sophia's own mom had given up on her would probably crush him. Shane giving up on Sophia was probably already bothering him. Which reminded her. He was probably just as upset as her. "Are you okay? From earlier?" She asked, not even meaning to distract Carl from her just meaning to find out if he was okay.

Just like that, all the worry was drained out of Carl and replaced with a tiredness a boy his age should never feel. "Yeah, I guess." He breathed out. Catrina gave him her own disapproving look, one that was a lot more powerful than his. "Okay, maybe I'm not. But only a little." Carl admitted though he was quick to make sure he didn't look weak to her. He didn't want Catrina to think he was weak. He wasn't sure why but he didn't. He let out a sigh and Catrina settled in the grass a bit more, knowing he was going to tell her why now. "Shane's wrong. I know he's wrong. Sophia's still out there. We're going to find her. And I don't want to leave here. It's nice and safe and no one's been hurt who's stayed on the farm. I don't want to leave and I don't want to abandon Sophia." Carl said firmly, looking nine kinds of bothered by what Shane had said.

Catrina wasn't really sure what to do. She wasn't exactly the comforting type, especially not with kids her age, but she felt like she ought to do something. So she reached over and squeezed his hand. "Why don't you tell him that?" She suggested, taking her hand away. Carl watched it go like he was surprised it'd ever been near him.

Carl shrugged. "I don't know. He's been…off. I don't really think he wants to talk to me." He told her, now playing with the grass on the ground.

"I think you should tell him." Catrina said firmly. From what she'd seen, Carl wasn't exactly a very opinionated boy. Sure Carl had told her about arguing with his parents about gun training on the way to gun training but that's the only time she knew of that the boy had spoken up about something. He was too quiet in her opinion. She made her opinions known, he ought to too. They weren't little kids. Not anymore. The world ending had changed that. "You can convince him, I know you can. Just tell him like you really mean it." Catrina pushed, trying to convince him.

For a minute Carl didn't say anything, just looked thoughtful. But then he nodded and Catrina grinned. "Okay. Okay, I'll tell him next time I see him." He said, sounding determined now.

"Good." Catrina said, giving an approving nod. Then she started to get up. Carl was up in a second, helping her. She didn't really want him to help, it made her feel weak, but she felt like she shouldn't tell him that. He'd helped her with the water and everything so it'd be rude to push him away for just helping her stand. She drew the line though when he tried to help her walk. Her legs were sore but they would hold till she got where she needed to be. He didn't have to help her. "Thanks. For the water and stuff." She mumbled out awkwardly, unsure how to thank someone her own age.

"Yeah, sure, you're welcome." Carl said, trying to play it cool like this wasn't incredibly awkward for him too. He looked around for anything to distract him but his gaze found Catrina again in a second. She was kind of hard to ignore, even when she was being quiet. "So…What are you going to do?" He asked her, kicking a bit of dirt up as he did.

Catrina shrugged and looked around. She hadn't really thought about doing anything after she'd taken off out of the stables. All she'd thought about was running. Getting as far away from Carol as possible. But now she needed to figure something out. She eyed the camp, wondering if Daryl had listened to Carol and stayed. That's when she saw a familiar figure coming their way. "I'm going to go get yelled at by Daryl. You?" She asked, turning back to Carl and raising a questioning eyebrow.

Carl looked around her to see what she meant. When he saw Daryl coming towards them understanding appeared on his face. "Have fun with that. I'm going to go read till I can find Shane." He told her. He hit her shoulder lightly before taking off for the woodpile near where his mom was working on food.

Catrina watched him go for a minute before looking over at Daryl and sighing. He was probably going to yell at her for running away. She had to admit, she kind of hated herself for running. Adults didn't run from their problems, they faced them. But no, she'd ran cause she hadn't liked what she heard. She'd been so  _weak_. She was such an idiot. With her head ducked down, Catrina walked towards Daryl. He stopped about halfway to her and she could see the look on his face, the angry look that spoke trouble. Lots of trouble. It was the look he'd worn the one time he'd yelled at her. She'd hated it and she hated it now too. Her eyes dropped to her shoes as she neared him, feeling unable to meet his angry eyes. She waited till she was stopped in front of him to speak. "Daryl, I'm so—." He didn't let her finish. Instead, he grabbed her arm and started dragging her towards camp. "Whoa! Ow!" She smacked his hand though it really didn't actually hurt. She was just surprised, Daryl hadn't manhandled her like this since the night they'd met. "Daryl, I'm sorry! Really, I am! Daryl? Daryl, what's wrong? Are you mad at me? Where are we going?" She said rapidly as he dragged her towards camp.

Daryl didn't answer any of her questions. Instead, he let her keep questioning him up until the point he plopped her down in one of the lawn chairs. She watched him with wide eyes as he grabbed a nearby can and a fork and brought them over. He shoved them into her hands. "Eat." He ordered her before grabbing a similar chair and moving it around so that it faced her. He plopped down and gave her a hard look. "Now." He added, a little more forceful than before.

Catrina just blinked at him. "What?" She asked, completely and utterly confused. Wasn't he going to yell at her? She'd ran off, acted weak, abandoned him to deal with Carol on his own. Shouldn't he be yelling at her? She thought he should be yelling at her.

"I told you to eat. Now eat." Daryl almost snapped at her. Catrina immediately went to opening the can, a tad startled by his tone. Daryl knew he'd spooked her too cause he let out a sigh. "You ran. You're not supposed to do that. I want you to eat, regain your strength." He explained tiredly, sounding somewhere between exhausted and tough. Catrina blinked at him again before nodding and digging into her food. Daryl was glad she was listening. If he couldn't go look for Sophia then he could at least take care of the other little girl relying on him.

For a while Catrina just ate, consuming the can of carrots Daryl had given her, but she couldn't stay quiet for long. Especially not when she saw Carol scurry inside the RV, glancing over at both of them with worry in her eyes. "Are you…Are you mad at Carol?" She asked, breaking the silence. Daryl shifted in his seat, suddenly very uncomfortable. "It's okay if you are. I am." Catrina said quickly, not wanting him to be uncomfortable. Daryl wasn't surprised. Catrina wouldn't have reacted the way she did if she was happy with Carol. "It's just...I think you should talk to her. Really talk to her. Show her that flower again, the one she has in the RV. Convince her Sophia's still out there." The girl said, her voice insistent. She really wanted Carol to believe Sophia was still alive. She just couldn't have the girl's own mother giving up on her like that.

Daryl stared at her for a minute, thinking about it. He'd seen some more of the flowers down by the water. It wasn't a bad plan and…well, it seemed like the sort of thing that would work on Carol. "Alright. I'll go after you eat." He told the girl, nodding slightly. The delighted smile that appeared on Catrina's face was definitely worth it. He stuck to his word too. When she was done he told her to either go get some rest or go read comics with Carl while he went to talk to Carol. Catrina watched him walk to the RV before taking off in Carl's direction. As much as sleep was appealing, she didn't really want to go to sleep right then. She wanted to see if Carl had dealt with Shane yet.

It took a while to get there but eventually Catrina found Carl with his mom. Her legs were screaming by the time she got to him, wobbling and aching so bad she felt like she was going to fall with every step. She ended up collapsing down beside him with a small pained noise, something that made both Carl and Lori look at her with worry. "I'm okay. My legs just ache a bit." She quickly told them, giving what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She didn't want them worrying about her. She wanted them to be worried about Sophia. She probably had a lot more problems than Catrina did by now. Carl gave her a doubtful look and Lori did too but after a minute Lori turned back to her vegetables. Catrina waited a minute before leaning towards Carl to talk to him. "What did he say?" She asked him, whispering so Lori wouldn't hear.

Carl glanced up at his mom before focusing back on Catrina. He jerked his head in a "come on" kind of way and they both quickly scrambled to their feet. "Heading towards the house mom." Carl said quickly as he grabbed Catrina by the hand and started dragging her towards the house. Catrina allowed him to drag her along, too curious to protest and make him mad. "Okay so I talked to Shane." Carl said once they were a safe distance away.

"What did he say?" Catrina asked immediately. She was curious of course but she was also worried. Carl seemed okay but just because he was happy didn't mean Shane hadn't said something to be worried about. Catrina didn't think Carl was the best judge of character when it came to Shane. She couldn't blame him exactly though. He'd known Shane a long time, he trusted him.

"He said we're going to stay!" Carl said excitedly, slowing down a bit when he saw that Catrina was struggling to keep up with him. He was smiling brilliantly and Catrina couldn't help but smile a bit too. "He says we've got to do whatever we have to so we can but he said we're going to stay!" Carl told her.

Catrina felt her smile slip slightly. What did that mean 'do whatever we have to'? "What did he mean by that?" She asked, a hint of worry creeping into her voice. If someone else had said that she wouldn't be so worried but coming from Shane it practically terrified her. He was insane. He could mean anything.

"Chores, I think." Carl said, making a face that said he really wasn't sure about his answer. "I asked if that's what he meant and he said it was." He told her. He shrugged and gave her a half smile, as if to say he wasn't concerned about it even in the slightest. But Catrina was concerned. She was incredibly concerned. Cause Shane hadn't actually said what he'd meant, just agreed with Carl. Which meant he could still have meant anything. Carl seemed to notice the worry in her eyes cause he quickly tried to cheer her up. "Don't worry. Shane's smart, he'll think of something, and you know my dad'll keep us safe." He told her in a tone he probably thought was reassuring.

Catrina decided to just nod and pretend she agreed with him, it was just easier that way. She did think Rick could keep them safe, she really did, but she really didn't trust Shane and she doubted anything he came up with would be good. Carl seemed to take her silence and her nod as complete agreement because he didn't press the matter. For a while they just walked towards the house, both silent and lost in their own thoughts. Then they got to the porch where Beth and Patricia were sitting playing checkers. Beth looked up when she heard them approaching and when she saw them there, holding hands, she smiled. "You two are adorable." She said cheerfully, making Patricia turn and look at them.

For a second the kids didn't know what she was talking about. But when Beth pointed at their hands and they looked down they realized what she meant. And they immediately broke apart, making disgusted noises as they did. "I did  _not_  mean to do that." Carl said, practically running up the steps to get away from Catrina.

"I can't believe I didn't notice." Catrina said, making a face. How had she not noticed? A boy had held her hand for a good five minutes and she hadn't noticed? How was that even possible? It was really weird too cause she always thought she'd notice if a boy decided to hold her hand. And it was Carl. _Carl_. She loved to annoy him and he was nice but she didn't want to hold hands with him. She shook her head then looked up at Carl. She made a face at him. "You're the one who grabbed  _my_  hand. It's your fault." She said confidentially, trying to annoy him again and make the situation less awkward.

Carl made a face right back at her. "You could have let go!" He pointed out defensively. He didn't want anyone thinking he'd purposely held her hand! He did  _not_  like her like that!

"I didn't notice because you were talking!" Catrina quickly retorted.

Carl rolled his eyes and turned away, pretty much saying "whatever" without having to actually say it. Catrina rolled her eyes back at him and walked up the steps as he wandered over to Beth and Patricia. "What are you playing?" He asked curiously, peering down at the game. Catrina jumped up onto the porch railing near the three of them and stared just as curiously as Carl down at the game. A smile spread across her face when she saw what it was. Checkers. Her dad had taught her how to play ages ago.

"Checkers." Beth answered, smiling at him. She had a nice smile, bright and happy. Catrina smiled a little more at the sight of it. She had to admit, she liked Beth. She was nice. "Do you want to play?" Beth asked, getting up from her seat and gesturing for Carl to sit. Carl glanced back at Catrina for a second before sitting down where Beth had.

It didn't take them long to find out that Carl absolutely sucked at checkers. Catrina snickered from where she sat on the railing, earning glares from Carl but smiles from Beth and Patricia. She tried to point out moves Carl could make that'd be helpful but he waved her off and did practically the complete opposite of what she said. Needless to say he lost every game and Catrina gave up trying. She also lost interest in the game after a little while and started looking around for something else to entertain her. Her entertainment arrived in the form of Maggie and Glenn who came and sat down on the steps, smiling and talking all lovey dovey like she'd seen her parents do. Catrina tilted her head and watched them, thinking it was kind of funny how Maggie had obviously been mad at Glenn earlier but was now completely fine with him. Was that normal for people who liked each other? She didn't get to wonder long because soon her attention was snatched up by the arrival of T-Dog and Andrea. "Do you know what's going on?" T-Dog asked.

"Where is everyone?" Andrea questioned, her words right on the heels of T-Dog's.

"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn asked them. Catrina spun around on the railing so she could watch them better. Carl noticed and looked over at her before looking past her to the others.

"He went off with Herschel. We were supposed to leave a couple hours ago." Andrea answered, sounding annoyed. Catrina's eyes widened in shock and then with horror. They hadn't gone looking yet?! Sophia was out there all alone and probably scared out of her wits and they hadn't gone looking yet?!

Catrina wasn't the only one bothered by this. Daryl heard them as he and Carol came walking up and anger immediately appeared on his face. "Yeah you were. What the hell?" He asked. Catrina jumped off the railing as Carol confirmed that Rick had told them they were going to look. She immediately started over towards where Daryl was heading but she stopped a few feet from the stairs, knowing he was probably about to get mad at everyone for not searching for Sophia when he couldn't and not wanting to be close to him when he got mad. "Dammit, isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail." He said angrily, gesturing back towards the woods when he mentioned the trail. "Ah, here we go." He said a second later. Catrina quickly peered around to see if Rick had come back but what she saw made her sick. It wasn't Rick, it was Shane. And he had guns. Catrina immediately started walking forward, not liking the sight of Shane approaching Daryl with weapons, but she was quickly stopped by Maggie who grabbed her arm before she could get too far. "What's all this?" Daryl questioned the man, pointing at the guns.

"You with me man?" Shane asked as he held a gun out towards Daryl. Catrina was surprised when Daryl took it, barely saying yeah as he did. Did he know what was going on? Was everything okay?  _Why_  did Shane have guns? "Time to grow up." Shane said loudly to no one in particular as he continued towards the house and all of them. "You already got yours?" He asked Andrea. She said she did and asked where Dale was. "He's on his way." Shane answered her. T-Dog pointed out that they weren't allowed to carry but Shane really didn't seem to care about that rule as he pressed a gun into the man's hand. "We can and we have to." He told him. He then turned to all of them, looking dead serious. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't." He told them, his voice loud so all of them could hear. Catrina felt a little sick listening to him because this time he was a little bit right. "How about you, man?" Shane asked, suddenly switching his attention to Glenn. He started over, offering a gun, and Catrina immediately started to retreat. Maggie let her, letting go of her arm so she could. "You gonna protect yours?" Shane asked Glenn. Glenn looked at Maggie before taking the gun. "That's it. Can you shoot?" Shane asked, looking over at Maggie.

"Can you stop?" Maggie asked back, looking nine kinds of pissed. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight." She told the man, taking a step forward. She was trying to get him to listen but Shane didn't seem to care what she said. Catrina cared though and she looked worriedly over at Daryl. He needed to stop this. They couldn't leave. They couldn't! They needed to stay so they could find Sophia!

Carl was following Catrina's line of thinking it seemed and he immediately told Shane that they had to stay. Lori, who came walking over asking what was going on, was ignored as Shane told Carl they weren't going anywhere. "Now look, Herschel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He's gonna have to." Shane told them. As he spoke, Catrina circled around to stand by Daryl. He grabbed her shoulder and squeezed lightly before placing her a bit behind his back. "Now we need to find Sophia, am I right? Huh?" Shane said, coming towards Carl. He kneeled down in front of the boy and held a gun out to him. "Now I want you to take this. You take it Carl and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it." He told Carl, trying to hand him the gun. Catrina, who Daryl had been slowly pushing back farther and farther from Shane, was so glad when Carl didn't take it.

Lori came flying down the steps, looking every inch an angry mother. "Rick said no guns. This is not your call. This is not your decision to make." She told the man, glaring ferociously down at him.

The fighting was interrupted pretty quickly by T-Dog suddenly cussing, loud enough for them all to hear and in a tone that spoke only of trouble. Everyone immediately turned around to see what was going on. Catrina's jaw dropped at what she saw. Rick, Herschel, and Jimmy coming out of the woods with two Walkers on sticks. They were leading them onto the farm. On purpose. Daryl had her once more behind his back in an instant. But then he took off, running with Shane and everyone else down towards the barn and Rick. Catrina didn't think, just immediately followed after them. Her legs ached but she ignored them, too worried about what was happening to focus on her pain. Someone, maybe Andrea, yelled at Shane to stop but he didn't. He just kept going and he threw the gate leading to the barn open without pausing a second. As he ran through he shouted at Rick, asking what exactly was going on.

Rick immediately tried to get Shane to calm down but Herschel didn't pay any attention to them. He was too focused on the guns in almost every hand. "Why do your people have guns?" He asked, looking at Shane for a brief second before turning his attention back to the angry Walker he was leading.

"Are you kidding me?!" Shane practically roared. Catrina slowed as she got closer to the Walkers and stopped a good distance away from everyone with guns, not wanting to be near any of it. "You see?! You see what they're holding onto?!" Shane shouted at all of them, running back around to them.

"I see  _who_  I'm holding onto!" Herschel shouted back. Catrina couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief a little. He…He really thought they were people. How? How did he think these monsters were people?

Shane shook his head angrily. "No, man, you don't." He said, glaring at the older man. Rick looked back over his shoulder at Shane as best he could with the Walker still coming at him and tried to reason with him. But Shane wouldn't listen. Shane would never listen. "What do you want to talk about, Rick?" He asked his old partner, practically mocking him. "These things ain't sick! They're not people! They're  _dead_! Ain't gonna feel nothing for them cause all they do, they kill!" He shouted furiously. "These things right here. They're the things that killed  _Amy_! They killed  _Otis_! They're gonna kill all of us!" Shane shouted. Rick shouted at him to shut up but of course Shane ignored him. Catrina could feel herself starting to shake. She hated Shane. She hated him. And he scared her. God did he scare her. "Hey, Herschel man, let me ask you something." Shane said, circling around so he was standing in front of Herschel and his Walker. It placed him right in front of the barn doors. Right in front of the most dangerous part of the whole farm. "Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" He asked the older man. And then he unloaded three bullets right into the Walker's chest. Catrina screamed in surprise, frightened, and ducked down a bit to avoid getting shot. "That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?!" Shane shouted.

He fired again. Twice this time. Catrina flinched at the sound and her hands came up to close over her ears. She didn't want to hear the gunshots. She didn't want to hear Shane. She knew the Walkers were bad. She knew that. She didn't need to hear Shane shouting about it. And she didn't need to hear the gunshots. She didn't. She'd told Daryl she understood what he was saying about being afraid of gunshots and she was trying to not be scared anymore but he'd told her that gunshots coming from one of them was good. It meant protection. Well Shane was one of them but this wasn't for protection. This was Shane being insane.

Shane kept shouting. It was like he didn't even care how terrified everyone looked. It was like he'd finally snapped. "That's its heart! It's lungs! Why is it still coming?!" He shot the Walker again, a couple more times.

"Shane!  _Enough_!" Rick shouted at the top of his lungs. Catrina was stunned and she took a step back in surprise. Rick had just shouted.  _Rick_. Calm Rick.

"Yeah, you're right man. That is enough." Shane said, suddenly much calmer than he'd been a second ago. He walked forward as he spoke and the second he was close enough he fired a shot into the Walker's head. Catrina watched the Walker fall to the ground, Herschel finally letting go of the stick he was keeping it at bay with. "Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's  _gone_!" Shane shouted, looking towards Carol who just stared back in shock. Catrina shook her head and felt herself slowly moving towards Carol. No. No, Sophia wasn't gone. "Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us.  _Enough_. Rick, it ain't like it was before!" Shane shouted, looking towards their leader. He looked so mad. So unbelievably mad. Catrina stumbled slightly as she continued towards Carol. She wasn't looking where she was going. She didn't want to take her eyes off Shane. "Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it!" Shane shouted at them, turning his eyes back on the group. "I'm talking about right here! Right now!" He shouted. And then he took off running towards the barn.

To Catrina, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Rick shouting at Herschel to take the stick. Shane breaking the lock with a pickaxe. Everyone shouting. Even Carol pushing her behind her back. Everything was in slow motion. Even when the first Walker came stumbling forward out of the barn it was all slow. And then Shane shot it in the head.

The world sped up again. Catrina felt like her heart was trying to beat itself out of her chest. It got even worse when Daryl rushed forward towards the danger and started firing. She wanted to go to him, she tried to, but Carol pushed her back. It helped when the others rushed forward and started firing but she was still terrified. There were Walkers. Walkers. Coming at them. Coming at Daryl. At the people she'd started to take in. The people she had started to care about. She'd already lost one family, she didn't want to lose another. She couldn't lose another.

Carl ran past with Lori, trying to get to Rick. Catrina's eyes snapped over to him as he went by, his mom trying to catch him. She watched him and all she could think was that she should be running forward. She should be doing that, running to the person she especially wants to keep safe. So she did. She dodged around Carol's protective hands and took off towards Daryl without a second thought. She didn't make it past Rick. He caught her around the middle and hauled her back. He plopped her down behind him and turned to look at the damage being done to the Walkers but Catrina still tried to get past him. She had to. Carl was just behind her with Lori. He was with the people he wanted safe. Catrina had to be with Daryl. He'd be safe if he was with her. She knew it. But Rick wouldn't let her past. He wrapped an arm around her and gripped her arm tightly, blocking her and securing her so she couldn't move past him without spinning herself or him. And she couldn't do either because they could  _not_ take their eyes off the Walkers. They couldn't.

Luckily, it seemed they didn't have to. The Walkers never got close to them and soon there were only a few still stumbling forward. One by one they dropped and, eventually, the gunshots stopped. Their noise echoed through the air and slowly died out, leaving them in a terrible silence filled with nothing but their heavy adrenaline rushed breathing. And then they heard it. The shuffling. The growling. There was one left. Catrina shook her head. She just wanted this to be over. She wanted all of this to just be over. But it wasn't. And when she saw the final Walker she knew it wouldn't over for a very long time. Because she knew who it was before anyone reacted. Before Carol started sobbing and running forward. Before Daryl caught her. Before she heard the name from so many in the group.

It was Sophia.

It was the girl they'd been looking for for so long.

The girl Catrina had sworn to find.

It was her. And she was dead.

Carl was crying. Catrina could hear him. Lori too. Daryl looked devastated and Rick…Rick looked so broken. Catrina saw all of them but she didn't take them in. She was too…frozen. She wasn't even shaking anymore, she was too frozen. She couldn't…She couldn't process this. Sophia. Sophia was dead. Catrina hadn't even gotten a chance to go and look for her and she was  _dead_. She was in the  _barn_. This  _entire time_. There'd been no saving her. There'd been no chance of Catrina helping someone. Someone like her. There'd been no chance. Sophia was gone. Two dots appeared on the ground at Catrina's feet. She didn't even know she was crying.

Rick released her slowly. As what once was Sophia came stumbling through the field of bodies, Rick released Catrina. She didn't want to run forward anymore. She watched him when he walked forward. She watched him stop in front of Sophia and raise his gun. She knew what was going to happen, what Rick was going to do, and for a moment she was back in the woods. For a moment she was once again walking away from her cousin, listening to him pull out his gun. For a moment she was back to where she was a week ago. Then Rick pulled the trigger and the present came flooding back.

This time though, when the gun went off, Catrina didn't flinch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUDES. The season finale! DUDES! I can't wait for next season!


End file.
